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THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 



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THE 

FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 



BY 



JOHN PHILIP HILL 

FOEMBKLY UNITED STATES DISTRICT ATTOKNEY 
FOB MARYLAND 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

1916 



^Y" 



COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY JOHN PHILIP HILL 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published April iqib 



APR 10 1916 
^CI.A428445 



PREFACE 

Even since 1903, when this book was started, many- 
important changes have occurred in the Federal Execu- 
tive. In 1903 there was no single book that adequately 
treated the President's Cabinet and the executive de- 
partments. Since then several books on aspects of this 
general subject have been written. With a few excep- 
tions (notably Dr. Learned's admirable book on The 
President's Cabinet, Dr. Fairlie's The National Adminis- 
tration, and Mr. Haskin's The American Government), 
these are merely compilations from the annual reports 
of the heads of the executive departments, and other 
government publications. The development and delim- 
itation of the functions of the Executive are an index of 
the growth of the Federal Government. Much remains 
to be written about it. In 1903 I was Assistant in Gov- 
ernment in two courses given at Harvard by Pro- 
fessor Frederic J. Stimson and the Honorable Charles 
S. Hamlin dealing with American Government. In 1905 
I gave seven lectures at Johns Hopkins for Dr. W. W. 
Willoughby on "The Executive Administration of the 
United States"; in the spring of 1912, at Goucher Col- 
lege, three lectures on the " Creation and Development 
of the Cabinet" ; and in November, 1912, two lectures at 
the University of Virginia, one on "The Growth of the 
Cabinet-Council Idea in the Federal Executive" and 



vi PREFACE 

the'other on " The Department of Justice." The purpose 
of this book, based upon the above lectures, is to add a 
little to the studies on the subject and to assist in an 
understanding of the creation, development, organiza- 
tion, and functions of the Federal Executive. To-day, 
the population of the United States is 101,208,315, ex- 
clusive of Alaska and the insular possessions. These 
people and their vast riches are not adequately pro- 
tected from foreign interference. A thorough under- 
standing of the Federal Government of to-day is the 
first step toward proper National Defense. 

John Philip Hill. 

3 West Franklin Street, 
Baltimore, February, 1916. 



CONTENTS 

I. The Federal Government 1 

II. Creation of the Executive Departments and the 

Cabinet 12 

III. Development op the Executive Departments and 

the Cabinet * ... 27 

IV. Status op the Heads of the Executive Depart- 

ments collectively, as an Advisory Council or 
Cabinet 41 

V. Status op the Heads op the Executive Depart- 
ments individually, as Constitutional Offi- 
cers OF THE Government 52 

VI. Organization op the Executive Departments . 65 

VII. Functions of the Executive Departments in Main- 
taining A " More Perfect Union." The Depart- 
ments op State, the Treasury, and the Interior 76 

VIII. Functions of the Executive Departments in 
"Insuring Domestic Tranquillity." The De- 
partments OF War, the Navy, and Justice . 121 

IX,. Functions op the Executive Departments in 
"Promoting the General Welfare." The De- 
partments op Agriculture, Commerce, and 
Labor 158 



viii CONTENTS 

X. Functions op the Executive Departments in Se- 
curing Certain op "The Blessings of Liberty." 
The Post-Officb Department 182 

XI. The Chief Executives and the Development of 

THE Executive Departments 194 

XII. Probable Developments in the Federal Execu- 
tive 215 

APPENDIX 

A. List of Presidents and Vice-Presidents and the 

Length of Service rendered 239 

B. The Constitution of the United States of America 240 

INDEX 259 



THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 



THE 
FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

CHAPTER I 

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

Lord Bryce, in his introduction to the most recent 
edition of "The American Commonwealth," says, 
"Thoughtful Europeans have begun to realize, whether 
with satisfaction or regret, the enormous and daily in- 
creasing influence of the United States." Most Ameri- 
cans are so occupied with the myriad interests that are 
creating this enormous and increasing power that they 
do not realize the great changes that are going on in the 
Government of the United States itself. In October, 
1914, the American Bar Association celebrated at Wash- 
ington the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of 
the Supreme Court. In this century and a quarter, al- 
though the questions with which it deals are somewhat 
different from those it considered in 1789, the organ- 
ization and functions of the Supreme Court have not 
changed. Should a celebration be held of the one hun- 
dred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the creation of the 
Federal Executive, most of the celebrants would be 
amazed at a realization of the changes that have taken 
place in the National Administration since General 
Washington first became President. 



2 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

The Chevalier de Pontgibaud (Marquis de More), 
who had served through the Revolution as aide-de- 
camp to the Marquis de Lafayette, revisited the United 
States a few years after the institution of the Federal 
Government. He recorded: ^ — 

"The Government officials were as simple in their 
manners as ever. I had occasion to call upon Mr. 
McHenry, the Secretary of War. It was about eleven 
o'clock in the morning when I called. There was no 
sentinel at the door, all the rooms, the walls of which 
were covered with maps, were open, and in the midst of 
the solitude I found two clerks, each sitting at his own 
table, engaged in writing. At last I met a servant, or 
rather the servant, for there was but one in the house, 
and asked for the Secretary. He replied that his master 
was absent for the moment, having gone to the barber's 
to be shaved. Mr. McHenry's name figured in the State 
Budget for $2000 (10,500 francs), a salary quite suffi- 
cient in a country where the Secretary for War goes in 
the morning to his neighbor, the barber at the corner, 
to get shaved. I was as much surprised to find all the 
business of the War Office transacted by two clerks, as I 
was to hear that the Secretary had gone to the barber's." 

Should the Chevalier visit the War Department and 
the other executive departments of the Government to- 
day, he might find the government officials as simple in 
their manners as before, but he would find a very differ- 
ent War Office and a very different Federal Executive 
from that which so surprised him in the early days of the 
^ A French Volunteer of the War of Independence, p. 124. 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 3 

Republic. The change in the Federal Executive is one 
of the most remarkable things in the history of the 
nation. Let us consider for a moment the status of one 
of the executive departments then and now. Nothing 
more strikingly illustrates the growth of the Federal 
Government and the development of the Cabinet and 
the executive departments than the history of the 
attorney-generalship. 

The first Attorney-General of the United States, Ed- 
mund Randolph, of Virginia, spoke of himself as "a sort 
of mongrel between the State and the United States; 
called an officer of some rank in the latter and thrust out 
to get a livelihood in the former." ^ Even as late as 1817, 
Secretary of State Monroe called attention to the fact 
that the Attorney-General had at the seat of the Federal 
Government "no apartment for business, no clerks, nor 
a messenger, nor stationery or fuel allowed. These have 
been supplied by the officer himself at his own expense." ^ 
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, and other jealous 
guardians of the rights of the States, fearful of the power 
of the newly created Federal Executive, provided Wash- 
ington with only three advisers who were heads of ex- 
ecutive departments, the Secretaries of State, Treasury, 
and War, but from the first the Attorney-General was 
considered a member of the advisory council composed 
of these three Secretaries and himself, which has come 
to be recognized as the President's Cabinet. Yet, 

1 E. M. D. Conway, Omitted Chapters, p. 135. 

2 Annals of Congress, 14th Cong., 2d Sess. (1816-17), pp. 699 and 
700. 



4 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

although considered a member of Washington's first 
Cabinet, Randolph was not the head of an executive 
department, and was not even required to reside at the 
Capital. His powers were insignificant and his compen- 
sation so small that he was expected to support himself 
from his private practice. The power and functions of 
the present head of the Department of Justice, if they 
could be known to the Anti-Federalists of Randolph's 
time, would cause those eminent gentlemen to turn in 
their graves. 

The fiftieth Attorney-General no longer suffers for 
lack of an apartment for business and a clerk, but he is 
the head of the great Department of Justice, the total 
number of whose officials and employees is about 5700,^ 
of which number 2070 are appointed by him. The 
Solicitor-General, the Solicitor of the State Department, 
the Solicitor of the Treasury, numerous assistant attor- 
neys-general, attorneys, and special attorneys in Wash- 
ington, numbering more than 300, 86 district attor- 
neys, and numerous special assistants, assistant district 
attorneys, and other officials, are at present under the 
direction of that Attorney-General, who in the days of 
President Monroe had neither stationery nor fuel. 

Kipling tells us that in the twilight of the Magic 
Jungle, in a sort of singsong to little Mowgli, old Baloo 
recited, — 

"As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, 
The law runneth forward and back." ^ 

^ Register of the Department of Justice, 1915. 
* Second Jungle Booh. 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 5 

And so, in anti-trust prosecutions, in the crusade against 
the white slaver, in the enforcement of pure-food laws, 
in interstate commerce cases, in the suppression of 
fraudulent use of the mails, the power of the Attorney- 
General runs forward and back throughout all the 
States of this great Union, and the activities of the De- 
partment of Justice wipe out state lines and from year to 
year increase the power of the Federal Government and 
its Executive, of whose growth they are the most strik- 
ing illustrations. j/' 

The growth of the executive power has attended the 
growth of the nation, and its development into its pres- 
ent importance has been necessitated by the fusion 
of the federation of States into a strongly centralized 
American nation. To follow in detail the changes in the 
organization of the executive departments, and to ex- 
amine the methods and reasons of these changes would 
take us far into the life history of the Republic. 

In 1890, John Fiske wrote: "In signing or vetoing 
bills passed by Congress the President shares in legis- 
lation, and is virtually a third house. In his other capac- 
ities he is the chief executive officer of the Federal Union; 
and inasmuch as he appoints the other great executive 
officers, he is really the head of the executive depart- 
ment, not — like the governor of a State — a mere 
member of it." ^ In 1908, Woodrow Wilson compared 
the President, as the makers of the Constitution in- 
tended him to be, with what he had actually become. 
"His veto upon legislation was his only 'check' on 
* Ciml Government in the United States, p. 232. 



6 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Congress, — was a power of restraint, not of guidance. 
He was empowered to prevent bad laws, but he was not 
to be given an opportunity to make good ones. As a 
matter of fact, he has become very much more. He has 
become the leader of his party and the guide of the na- 
tion in political purpose, and therefore in legal action." ^ 
The theory expressed by Professor Wilson in 1908 has 
been the practice of President Wilson as Chief Execu- 
tive, and as a "third house" of the legislative depart- 
ment he has certainly not confined himself to the powers 
of the "third house" as described by Fiske. The Fed- 
eral Executive has outgrown, naturally and properly, 
the bounds ascribed it by the makers of the Consti- 
tution. 

The Executive, as it exists to-day, is one of the most 
important elements in the life of the nation. To under- 
stand the meaning of the national life a knowledge of the 
Cabinet and of the organization and work done by the 
Executive Departments is necessary, and while much 
has been written of the executive power, little has been 
written upon the administrative side of the Executive, 
as carried out by the departments. As President Wilson 
remarks, " It is easier to write of the President than of 
the Presidency." ^ The voluminous reports of the heads 
of the departments, the provisions of the various stat- 
utes of the United States relating to the departments, 
miscellaneous reports, congressional and department 
records, all set forth the business that the great govem- 

1 Constitutional Government in the United States, p. 60. 

2 Ibid., p. 57. 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 7 

mental corporation conducts. They also show in detail 
the methods by which this business is carried on. From 
them the student may learn how the State Department 
settles the rights of some naturalized citizen who desires 
to revisit his former country, but who is claimed by that 
country to be liable for military service, or how the 
Republic of Panama sprang into life and American dom- 
ination of the Isthmus was secured. In the same way 
the methods of customs collections and post-office 
establishments may be learned. A knowledge of these 
matters is essential to an understanding of daily news- 
paper discussions, reports of the debates and actions of 
Congress, and of the position of the Government. After 
a brief discussion of the creation and status of the execu- 
tive departments, it is my purpose to set forth the 
organization of these departments, and to indicate the 
matters with which they deal and their methods of work. 

Before doing this, however, it may be well to say a few 
words about the Federal Government generally. In the 
rush of our American life it is amazing how much we can 
forget, and I shall be pardoned for speaking briefly of 
things that we are all supposed to have once and for all 
time learned in the schoolroom. 

During the Revolutionary War, the common inter- 
ests of the allied colonies, almost exclusively the carry- 
ing-on of the war, were entrusted to the Continental 
Congress. This body, possessing theoretically little 
power, exercised, however, the greatest real power over 
the allied colonies. It combined in itself only the legis- 
lative and executive functions, for at that time there did 



8 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

not exist and there was no necessity for any common 
judicial system for the allied sovereignties that later 
became States of our Union. The executive functions 
of the Continental Congress were exercised through its 
various committees and officers, but furnished httle 
of permanent value to the American political system. 
After the Revolution the government of the allied 
States under the Articles of Confederation for a time 
gave to the former colonies a more permanent and 
stronger common life, but that weak Government soon 
gave way to the present Constitution under which the 
nation has attained federal life and power. 

We learned in school that the Federal Government 
of the United States consists of three coordinate and 
theoretically independent branches, the executive, leg- 
islative, and judicial. We all know in a general way 
that the Congress makes the laws and that the Execu- 
tive and the courts carr^^ them out. The States' rights 
men in the Constitutional Convention were extremely 
jealous of the power of the Executive, and I shall show 
you in the coming chapters that they, as States' rights 
men, were justified in their fears, for to-day, while the 
express train and the telephone have eliminated state 
lines for all commercial purposes, the effect of recent 
legislation is to efface state lines for many administra- 
tive purposes. Before taking up the executive branch of 
the Federal Government, it will be well to glance at the 
Government as a whole. 

The Executive consists of the President, and, poten- 
tially, the Vice-President, — who, aside from the fact 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 9 

that he presides over the Senate, has no place in the 
Government, — and the ten members of the President's 
Cabinet, The Cabinet, as such, is not known to the 
Constitution. The legal status of its members arises 
from Llu-'ir being heads of the executive departments, 
and after all they are legally only arms of the President. 
The power of the President and his place in the na- 
tional life is quite different to-day from the conception 
of that office held by the framers of the Constitution. 
They planned a Chief Magistrate, non-partisan, calm 
and aloof from the throbbing political questions that 
might agitate the legislative branch of the Government. 
Above the turmoil of political parties the President was 
dispassionately to carry out the laws in much the same 
non-political manner as the Chief Justice was to head 
the Judiciary. There were certain common interests 
that drew the thirteen States together: they wished to 
provide by the Constitution only for the needs as they 
saw them then — an army for external use, a diplo- 
matic service, also for external use, and a treasury to 
get money for the above external uses. The framers of 
the Constitution did not dream that to-day the Presi- 
dent would be the leader of the dominant political party 
in the nation ; they did not dream that he would be the 
one man in the nation primarily responsible to the peo- 
ple for the enactment into laws of their will; they did 
not dream that the Chief Magistrate of the new Repub- 
lic would exercise in time the combined powers of the 
English King and his Prime Minister; but then they did 
not dream that one arm of the President would be a 



10 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Secretary of Labor, whose duties would run into the 
domestic and industrial life of each of their jealously 
guarded States. The creation of a Department of Labor 
in 1913, one hundred and twenty-four years after the 
inauguration of the Federal Government, for the pur- 
pose of fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare 
of the wage-earners of the United States, improving 
their conditions, and advancing their opportunities for 
profitable employment regardless of state lines, is the 
farthest point in the development of a strongly central- 
ized Federal Government. At the same time it is but 
an indication of the enormous increase in the power of 
the Executive. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists 
would find this increased power of the President quite to 
their liking, but the President of to-day is a more power- 
ful factor in the Federal Government than even they 
dared expect in 1789. Party organization and the 
machinery of legal primary elections were not thought 
of in the days when President Washington gravely and 
with due decorum considered the status of his Cabinet 
and kept the Vice-President out of it; but neither were 
express trains and telephones. We find the latter ex- 
tremely convenient and the nation no longer fears the 
power of the President. 

Besides the Executive there are to-day in the frame- 
work of the Federal Government two other branches. 
With the Judiciary this book will have little to do. As 
to the other branch of the Government, the Congress of 
the United States, it is only necessary to say that, while 
it theoretically makes the laws, more and more in these 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 11 

days of the political leadership of the President, in 
much important legislation Congress merely enacts 
into law the principles that the majority party has de- 
clared in its platform. The Judiciary and the legislative 
branch of the Government have departed little from the 
theories of the Fathers. There are more courts and the 
Congress is larger, but the fundamental concepts of 
neither have greatly changed. Congress makes a greater 
number and more far-reaching laws, but its machinery 
is the same. The courts try more cases of a more far- 
reaching character, but their machinery is the same. 
The Executive has changed. In the coming years it will 
change more. Seats in Congress for the members of the 
Cabinet may come in time, and we may have places in 
the legislative department for arms of the Executive for 
which the Constitution does not specifically provide. 
The development of the Cabinet and the executive de- 
partments is the most interesting thing in the growth of 
the Federal Government. Let us see on what basis and 
out of what they were created. 



CHAPTER II 

CREATION OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND 
THE CABINET 

The executive business of the United States has, 
since the organization of the Government, been carried 
on by the executive departments, which have been in- 
creased from time to time as the requirements of the 
Government demanded. The Departments of State, the 
Treasury, and War were created by the First Congress 
in 1789, and the Department of the Navy was estab- 
lished soon after. The Post-Office and the Department 
of Justice had their beginnings in the same period, al- 
though they did not take rank as executive depart- 
ments till much later. The Department of Commerce 
and Labor, created in 1903, the Department of Labor 
carved from it in 1913, with the Agricultural and In- 
terior Departments, belong to the latter half of the 
history of the nation. There are to-day ten coordinate 
executive departments. 

The Constitution provides that "the executive power 
shall be vested in a President of the United States of 
America." ^ It then proceeds to declare the length of 
time the President shall hold office, the method of his 
election and the qualifications of a President. The sec- 
tion contains no specific enumeration of the executive 
power conferred. Goodnow, in his treatise on "Com- 
1 Art. n, par. 1. 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 13 

parative Administrative Law," ^ says that these words 
*' executive power" meant "that the President was to 
have a mihtary and poHtical power rather than an 
administrative power. The meaning of these words is 
further explained by the enumeration of the specific 
powers which were granted to the President by the 
Constitution. These are the same powers possessed by 
the governors of the Commonwealths. They are the 
power of military command, the diplomatic power, the 
limited veto power, the power of pardon, the power to 
call an extra session of Congress, to adjourn it in case of 
a disagreement between the houses, and the power to 
send a message to the Congress. The general grant of 
the executive power to the President means little except 
that the President was to be the authority in the 
Government that was to exercise the powers afterward 
enumerated as his. The only other enumerated power 
is an administrative power, and it is also the only 
purely administrative power that is mentioned clearly 
in the Constitution. This is the power of appointment. 
. . . Beyond the power of appointment he had, so far as 
the express provisions of the Constitution were con- 
cerned, no control over the administration at all." 

The complex system of executive departments is not 
provided by the Constitution. It has arisen by acts of 
Congress, a slow and often tentative construction, pro- 
vided as the national interests became more varied and 
far-reaching, and the needs of administration became 
more exacting. Our form of government is that denomi- 
1 Vol. I, p. 62. 



14 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

nated as rigid because of its foundation on a written 
instrument; but like many of our governmental institu- 
tions that are the product of gradual evolution, the law 
regulating the proceedings of the executive depart- 
ments, and the relations of the Cabinet to the President 
and Congress, is the law of the unwritten Constitution. ^ 

The Constitution provides that the President "may 
require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in 
each of the executive departments, upon any subject 
relating to the duties of their respective offices." ^ The 
only other mention of the executive departments in the 
Constitution follows the provision for appointment by 
the President, with the consent of the Senate, of all offi- 
cers of the United States whose appointments are not 
otherwise provided for by the Constitution. By this 
clause of the Constitution " Congress may by law vest 
the appointment of such inferior officers as they think 
proper in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or 
in the heads of departments." ^ Upon this meager 
foundation have been created all ten great organiza- 
tions that to-day administer the domestic and foreign 
business of the United States. 

The Articles of Confederation, which preceded the 
Constitution, contained no provision for any executive 
departments, and the President of Congress under the 
Confederation was in no sense an executive head of 
the Government; yet the Continental Congress and the 
Congress under the Confederation had been compelled 

^ Woodburn, American Republic, p. 191. 

2 Art. II, sec. 2, clause 1. * Ibid., clause 2. 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 15 

to create some sort of executive machinery for carrying 
on the struggle for independence, and for conducting the 
business of the weak Union that was formed after the 
peace with England. When, on April 1, 1789, the First 
Congress under the Constitution was organized in Fed- 
eral Hall in New York, and settled down to the task of 
providing for the organization of the Government, it 
found some models for the executive department. There 
was a bureau of foreign affairs, and a bureau of war, 
each under the direction of an officer denominated a 
secretary. There was also a board of commissioners in 
charge of the Treasury, and a postmaster-general, whose 
duties were similar to those exercised by that officer 
under the colonial regime. 

Congress was further aided by the knowledge pos- 
sessed by many of its members of the discussions that 
had taken place in the Constitutional Convention, 
where, among others, a plan had been proposed (August 
20, 1787) by Gouverneur Morris for a council of state, 
among whose members he named a Secretary of Com- 
merce and Finance, and another officer v/ho was to have 
charge of agriculture, manufactures, and kindred mat- 
ters, under the title of Secretary of Domestic Affairs. ^ 
There had also been much general discussion of the 
subject, and many opinions expressed. One of the most 
interesting of these appears in a letter, written in 1788 
by Commodore John Paul Jones, in which he tells the 
Marquis de Lafayette that "had I the power I would 
create at least seven ministries in the primary organiza- 
' Documentary History of the Constitution. 



16 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

tion of government under the Constitution. In addition 
to the four already agreed upon, I would ordain a 
Ministry of Marine, a Ministry of Home Affairs and a 
General Post-Office; and as commerce must be our 
great reliance it would not be amiss to create also as the 
eighth a Ministry of Commerce." ^ Congress, however, 
was dominated by no such broad spirit as that expressed 
by the great sea captain. 

State jealousy of the central power operated against 
the creation of any more departments than were actually 
necessary; and after much debate in the House, where 
the subject was first introduced by Elias Boudinot.. 
a former President of the Continental Congress and a 
member from New Jersey, it was decided that there 
should be but three departments. These were to be 
Foreign Affairs, Treasury, and War, each with a secre- 
tary in charge of its work. 

Although the proper management of the finances was 
the most pressing need, and the creation of a Treasury 
Department had been proposed by Boudinot as the first 
department, the difficulties of its organization proved 
greater than those of any other department, and the 
Department of State was the first to be created. On 
July 27, 1789, the Senate and House of Representatives 
provided for its organization by passing "an act for es- 
tablishing an Executive Department to be denominated 
the Department of Foreign Affairs." ^ This fundamental 

1 Original manuscript in the archives of the Congressional Li- 
brary. 

8 1 U.S. Stat. L. 28. 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 17 

act provided for an executive department whose prin- 
cipal officer should be called the Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs, and who should perform and execute such duties 
as should from time to time be enjoined on or entrusted 
to him by the President relative to "correspondences, 
commissions, or instructions to or with public ministers 
or consuls from the United States, or to negotiations 
with public ministers from foreign States or princes, or 
to memorials or other applications from foreign public 
ministers or other foreigners, or to such other matters 
respecting foreign affairs as the President of the United 
States shall assign to the said department." 

The duties of this department were confined entirely 
to foreign relations, and closely approximated those of 
the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs under 
the Confederation. Its descent from the old department 
was indicated by the provision of the act by which the 
Secretary of the new department was given custody of 
the records, books, and papers in the office of the Secre- 
tary who had had charge of Foreign Affairs under the 
Confederation. The department did not long retain its 
character as dealing exclusively with foreign affairs. 
Administrative functions of a very diverse and hetero- 
geneous nature were added almost immediately upon 
the original founding of the department, for within two 
months was passed an act ^ providing for the safe- 
keeping by the secretary of this department of the acts, 
records, and seal of the United States and also for the 
publication and authentication under his authority of 
1 September 15, 1789. 1 U.S. Stat. L. 68. 



18 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

the laws passed by Congress. Thus, to the duties of the 
Foreign Secretary were added duties analogous to those 
of Keeper of the Great Seal of England. To indicate 
this new province, it was provided that the department 
should thereafter be denominated the Department of 
State, and that its principal officer should thereafter be 
called the Secretary of State. The department, though 
shorn of some of its miscellaneous functions, remains to- 
day substantially the same as when it was created, but 
its organization has kept pace with the growth that has 
followed the marvelous expansion of the national inter- 
ests. The establishing act provided for the secretary, 
one inferior officer to be called the chief clerk, and 
assistant clerks. To-day there are three assistant secre- 
taries, and numerous clerks and assistants of various 
sorts. 

The Secretary of the Treasury takes rank immediately 
after the Secretary of State, but the Department of War 
was the second department in order of creation. On the 
7th of August, 1789, was passed the "act to establish an 
Executive Department to be denominated the Depart- 
ment of War." ^ The secretary of this department was 
to perform and execute such duties as should be en- 
trusted to him by the President "relative to military 
commissions, or to the land or naval forces, ships or 
warlike stores of the United States, or to such other 
matters respecting military or naval affairs as the Presi- 
dent of the United States shall assign to the said de- 
partment, or relative to the granting of lands to persons 
, 1 1 U.S. Stat. L. 49. 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 19 

entitled thereto, for military services rendered to the 
United States, or relative to Indian affairs." 

As in the case of the State Department the new De- 
partment of War was named as the depository of all 
books and records in the office of the Secretary for the 
Department of War, established under the Confedera- 
tion of the "United States in Congress assembled." The 
organization of the department followed that of the 
Department of Foreign Affairs, and it was placed under 
the charge of a Secretary of War. 

The creation of the Departments of State and of War 
was accomplished with comparative ease, but it was not 
until September 2, 1789, six weeks after the creation of 
the first department, that the act was passed for the 
establishment of the Treasury Department. The "An- 
nals" of Congress ^ show the diversity of opinion that 
existed as to the organization of the department and 
the opposition from certain quarters to the substitution 
of a single secretary for the board that had directed 
the Continental finances.^ The war with England had 
left a great burden of debt upon the young nation, and 
its management presented momentous problems. The 
Constitution provided for the collection of revenue from 
various sources, but was silent as to the measures to be 
employed. No aid of any great value was to be derived 
from the methods employed under the Confederation, 
for the lack of power to raise money had been the fatal 

» May 19-21, and July 23, 1789. 

2 James Schouler, A History of the United States under the Con- 
stitiUion, vol. i, p. 93. 



20 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

defect of that weak attempt at government. Further- 
more, the organization of the Treasury Department pre- 
sented internal difficulties that were totally absent in 
the other departments, and it is a remarkable commen- 
tary upon the ability of the framers of the act which 
established, the Treasury Department that it continues 
to-day under the original plan, and that in all the history 
of its vast dealings there has occurred no important der- 
eliction of duty by those in charge of the nation's funds. 
Its organization is, in comparison with the other de- 
partments, very complicated. It is sufficient here to note 
that in addition to the Secretary of the Treasury, there 
were named as officers a Comptroller, an Auditor, a 
Treasurer, a Register and an assistant to the Secretary. 
It was stated in the act that the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury was "to be deemed head of the Department." The 
fact that the duties of the other officers were so impor- 
tant shows the fear of Congress of putting too much 
power into the hands of the Secretary, and this caution 
is accentuated by the fact that of all the officers above 
enumerated only the assistant secretary was to be ap- 
pointed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

Washington was inaugurated April 30, 1789, and at 
once proceeded to carry on the Government with the 
aid of^the executive machinery that had served the 
United States under the Confederation. John Jay had 
been Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Confedera- 
tion, and upon the establishment of that department 
under the Constitution, he was offered the new position. 
He preferred rather to become the Chief Justice, but re- 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 21 

tained his old position at the President's request until 
March 21, 1790, when Jefferson returned from France 
to assume his duties as the first Secretary of State. On 
September 11, 1789, Alexander Hamilton was nominated 
by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and commis- 
sioned Secretary of the Treasury, and in this manner, 
just seven days after the establishment of the Treasury 
Department, became the first member of the first Cab- 
inet under the Constitution. On the same day, Henry 
Knox, of Massachusetts, was nominated, and on the fol- 
lowing day confirmed, as Secretary of War. On the 25th 
of September followed Jefferson's nomination as Secre- 
tary of State, and with his confirmation the new Cabinet 
was completed, although Jay continued to administer the 
affairs of State for six months longer. 

The heads of these three departments stood upon an 
equal footing as heads of executive departments and 
advisers to the President, but there were two other 
officers of the Government, the Attorney-General and 
the Postmaster-General, whose position was not for 
some time so clearly defined. 

The Act of September 24, 1789, ^ which established the 
judicial courts of the United States, provided for the ap- 
pointment of "a meet person, learned in the law, to act 
as Attorney-General for the United States." This officer, 
in addition to his duties to prosecute and conduct all 
suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States 
should be concerned, was directed to give his advice and 
opinion upon questions of law "when required by the 
1 1 U.S. Stat. L. 73. 



22 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

President of the United States, or when requested by 
the heads of any of the departments touching any 
matter that may concern their departments." 

Commenting on this provision, Dr. Learned * says: 
"The portion of the act devoted to the Attorney- 
General's place is curiously brief. This brevity suggests 
the marked immaturity of the administrative judicial 
system of the Central Government. Indeed, so far as the 
Central Government is concerned, the office was an 
innovation, for no such office had been known to the 
Confederation. On the other hand, the English attor- 
ney-generalship, which doubtless furnished the men of 
1789 with a model was old and well estabUshed. More- 
over, there had been Attorneys-General in many of the 
colonies." Although those who drafted the Judiciary 
Act may have had in mind the Attorney-General of 
England or similar officers of the Colonial Governments, 
the Attorney- General of the United States from the first 
occupied a position quite unlike that held by any of 
these officers, and Dr. Learned is undoubtedly correct 
in his statement, that "the office was an innovation." 
President Lowell, of Harvard, in "The Government of 
England," ^ says: "The principal law officers of the 
Crown are the Attorney-General and the Solicitor- 
General. Their opinion on questions of law may be 
asked by the Government and by any department, al- 
though many of the departments are provided with per- 
manent legal counsel of their own whose advice is suffi- 
cient for all ordinary matters." He also says: "These 

1 The President's Cabinet, p. 106. " Vol. i, pp. 132, 133. 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 23 

gentlemen hold no judicial position; and curiously- 
enough, while a part of the Ministry, are never in the 
Cabinet." Mr. Monroe, while Secretary of State in 
1817, wrote: "The Attorney- General has been always, 
since the adoption of our Government, a member of the 
Executive Council, or Cabinet. His duties in attending 
the Cabinet are equal to those of any other members." ^ 

The statute which created the office merely indicated 
in the most meager terms the duties of the Attorney- 
General, and it was not till 1870 that the Department of 
Justice was created. The office has gradually developed 
and its duties become defined as the Federal Govern- 
ment has itself grown; but by virtue of his advisory 
capacity, the Attorney-General has been considered a 
member of the Cabinet since the appointment of Ed- 
mund Randolph, the first incumbent of the office. 

The first Cabinet was therefore made up of the 
Secretaries of the three departments, and the Attorney- 
General, who was himself not the head of a department, 
and therefore not one of the constitutional advisers of 
the President referred to in the clause providing for the 
furnishing of opinions to the President. He was a mem- 
ber of the Cabinet by reason of the advisory position 
provided by the Act of Congress that created his office. 
The fifth of the executive officers of the Government 
occupied a position exactly opposite to that of the At- 
torney-General. The Postmaster-General was for many 
years head of a department that performed a most im- 
portant function of government administration, but it 
1 14th Cong., 2d Sess. (1816-17), Annals, p. 699. 



24 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

was not till 1829 that the head of the Department of the 
Post-Ofiice was accorded a Cabinet position. 

The Post-Ofiice Department has the longest record of 
any of the executive departments of the Government. 
In July, 1775, nearly a year before the Declaration of 
Independence, a general post-office was created and 
Franklin chosen Postmaster-General. The Articles of 
Confederation provided for the continuance of this de- 
partment, and on September 22, 1789, the First Congress 
passed an "Act for the temporary establishment of the 
Post-Office." 1 

This act provided for the appointment of a Post- 
master-General whose powers should be the same "as 
they last were under the resolutions and ordinances of 
the late Congress." This act was to continue in force for 
one year, and was continued in 1790, and again in 1791. 
In 1792 a more comprehensive act was passed, and in 
1794 the present department was created. The work of 
the department was of a purely routine character, and in 
the beginning the Postmaster-General was considered 
unimportant as compared with the heads of the State, 
Treasury, and War Departments. In 1829, however, 
with nearly eight thousand deputy postmasters under 
his control, and consequently with more patronage than 
that of the head of any other department, the Post- 
master-General could no longer be treated as of sub- 
ordinate rank, and President Jackson invited Post- 
master-General Barry to enter the Cabinet as one of his 
advisers. 

1 1 U.S. Stat. L. 70. 



CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENTS 25 

When the First Congress closed its work, it had pro- 
vided for the immediate executive needs of the govern- 
ment administration, and the changes that thereafter 
occurred in the existing departments, and the creation 
of new departments came gradually as the natural re- 
sults of experience and of enlarged and more varied 
administrative demands. 

The first evidence of the enlarged executive require- 
ments of the nation was the division of the province of 
the War Department. During the early years of the 
Republic there had been constant difficulties with Eng- 
lish aggression on the seas, and in 1798 the relations with 
France had come to such a state that war with that 
country seemed unavoidable. The natural outcome of 
these conditions was increased naval activity, and on 
April 30, 1798, a new division of the executive adminis- 
tration was created under the name of the " Department 
of the Navy." ^ The organization of this department 
followed the prevailing type as exemplified by the De- 
partment of State, and at its head was placed a Secre- 
tary of the Navy. His duties, as set forth in the funda- 
mental act, were to "execute such orders as he shall 
receive from the President of the United States, relative 
to the procurement of naval stores and materials and the 
construction, armament, equipment, and employment of 
vessels of war, as well as other matters connected with 
the naval establishment of the United States." The act 
concluded with the natural corollary to the creation 
of the department that the new Secretary was to take 
1 1 U.S. Stat. L. 553. 



26 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

possession of the books and records appertaining to his 
department, which were then deposited in the office of 
the "Secretary at War." 

The first member of the Cabinet to take his place as 
representative of the new department was Benjamin 
Stoddert, of Maryland, who was appointed by President 
Adams, upon the refusal to serve of George Cabot, of 
Massachusetts, to whom the secretaryship was first 
offered. It is recorded of Secretary Stoddert that he was 
"a Georgetown merchant, without political antecedents, 
who proved himself an efficient officer and the most 
constant member of President Adams's Cabinet." 

1 Schouler, vol. i, p. 404. 



CHAPTER III 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 
AND THE CABINET 

The creation of the Navy Department was made 
necessary by the development in importance of an 
existing part of the administrative work of the Execu- 
tive, but the estabhshment of the next department was 
necessitated by the assumption of new burdens by the 
Government, and by an enlargement of the sphere of 
the national activity. The creation of the Department 
of the Interior and of the three departments that have 
since been added shows in a marked degree the increased 
power of the Executive of the nation. The acquisition 
of vast territories wrested from Mexico, in addition 
to those acquired by peaceful means, imposed greater 
responsibilities upon the President, while the devel- 
opment of the country increased greatly the various 
miscellaneous duties that had in the early days been 
performed by the existing departments as unimportant 
incidents. 

As indicated by the plans for the departments sub- 
mitted to the Constitutional Convention, the idea of a 
general home department was discussed at the very 
foundation of the Government, but postponed as un- 
necessary under the conditions that then existed. The 
demand for such a division of the executive administra- 
jtion became imperative in the days when the Wilmot 



28 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE v 

Proviso was concentrating all attention on internal 
affairs, and at a time when no foreign complications di- 
verted discussion from the great questions that underlay 
the Missouri Compromise. 

In February, 1849, Representative Vinton, a member 
of the Ways and Means Committee, reported a bill in 
the House that had been drafted by Robert J. Walker, 
President Polk's powerful Secretary of the Treasury. 
The bill was passed in the House by a strong non-parti- 
san vote, and in the last days of the session the Senate 
concurred in the measure.^ On March 3, 1849, this bill 
became a law under a title which is indicative of its 
character as a general measure of department reforma- 
tion. It is called "An act to establish the Home De- 
partment, and to provide for the Treasury Department 
an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and a Commis- 
sioner of the Customs." It differs materially in some of 
its provisions from the acts by which the existing de- 
partments had been created and for that reason merits 
a more careful examination. The creative portion of the 
act provided "that from and after the passage of this 
act there shall be created a new executive department of 
the Government of the United States, to be called the 
Department of the Interior; the head of which de- 
partment shall be appointed by the President of the 
United States by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, who shall hold his office by the same tenure, and 
receive the same salary, as the Secretaries of the other 
executive departments, and who shall perform the duties 
1 Schouler, vol. v, p. 121. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENTS 29 

assigned him by this act." The significant portions of 
this part of the act are those that provide that the 
Senate shall concur in the appointment and the definite 
assignment of duties by Congress to the new Secretary. 
In the previous acts establishing or modifying depart- 
ments, it had been stated merely that the head of the 
department was to be appointed by the President and 
that he should perform those duties relative to certain 
named matters assigned him by the President. 

It was intimated in the Constitution that the heads of 
the departments should be appointed by and with the 
consent of the Senate/ and this had been the practice 
from the time of the appointment of the first Secretary; 
but by this act, for the first time, this practice was noted 
in the establishment of a department. The act in its 
further provisions showed the clearer understanding 
that had been gained of the position of the departments. 

Among the heterogeneous duties assigned to the new 
Secretary were the supervision of the office of the Com- 
missioner of Patents, formerly exercised by the Secre- 
tary of State, and' the supervision of the General Land 
Office and of the accounts of the marshals, clerks, and 
other officers of the United States Courts, formerly the 
province of the Secretary of the Treasury. The War 
Department lost control over Indian affairs, and the 
Navy Department was required to cede its supervision 
of pensions to the new Secretary. In addition to these 
duties the control of the census affairs was transferred 
from the State Department, while such miscellaneous 
^ Art. II, sec. 2, clause 2. 



30 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

matters were added as the supervision of the mines 
owned by the United States and the power before exer- 
cised by the President over the commissioners of pubhc 
buildings, and over the penitentiary of the District of 
Columbia. The first Secretary of the new department, 
Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, was assuredly in charge of an 
amount of administrative work as miscellaneous as it 
was important and far-reaching in its scope. 

Judged by the nature of the duties originally assigned 
to them, as well as the time of their creation, the de- 
partments may be said to be capable of division into 
two classes. The original departments, with which the 
Department of the Navy must be classed, were all 
formed during the infancy of the Republic, and their 
development has been but an amplification under wider 
and better laws of the work of the Federal Government. 
The Departments of the Interior and of Agriculture, and 
the still new Departments of Commerce and of Labor, 
belong to the powerful Government of a strongly cen- 
tralized nation, and in their work are exponents of the 
last half of the national life, rather than of the days of 
early struggle and development, when state sovereignty 
was the prevailing conception and the Union savored 
more of a strong federation of States than of such a 
Union as emerged from the great constitutional struggle 
that caused the Civil War. The early departments min- 
istered to the bare necessities of the Government. The 
later departments foster the more general welfare of the 
nation. 

The Department of Agriculture was created by Act 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENTS 31 

of May 15, 1862, for a purpose that in 1789 would have 
been deemed entirely outside the province of the func- 
tions of the National Government, — to diffuse among 
the people of the United States useful information on 
subjects connected with agriculture in its most general 
and comprehensive meaning. 

Although designated a department, it was not classed 
with the high executive departments of the Government. 
It was rather an independent bureau, and at its head 
was placed not a Secretary, but merely a Commissioner. 
It was not till February 9, 1889, that this department 
was placed upon an equal footing with what may be 
termed the Cabinet Departments. By the act of that 
date,^ Congress made it one of the executive departments 
and placed it in charge of a Secretary of Agriculture. 
Its duties were enlarged, and its first head, Norman J. 
Colman, of Missouri, became a member of President 
Cleveland's Cabinet on February 13, 1889. In this 
manner the industries of the country, a subject seem- 
ingly non-executive, were for the first time accorded a 
representative in the Council of the Chief Executive, 
and a new theory was definitely added to that unwritten 
part of the Constitution that has been slowly developing 
since the formation of the Union. 

The history of the erection of the Department of 
Commerce and Labor shows the same development. 
The national importance of the labor interests of the 
country received recognition in the establishment of the 
Bureau of Labor under the act of Congress approved 
1 25 U.S. Stat. L. 659. 



32 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

June 27, 1884, which occupied a position very similar to 
that of the Department of Agriculture at the time of its 
first establishment. As far as the Government was con- 
cerned, the commercial and manufacturing interests of 
the country were, at that time, left to the casual atten- 
tion of various offices of the several departments. With 
the great increase of the industries of the nation the 
need of more definite government supervision of indus- 
trial matters grew to be generally recognized. Many 
petitions on the subject were made to Congress, various 
commercial conventions presented memorials on the 
same theme, and the subject has been referred to in 
the more recent political platforms and messages of the 
Presidents. The arguments offered for a Department of 
Commerce were based on the fact noted by John Paul 
Jones in 1788, that the United States was a distinctly 
commercial and industrial nation. The creation of the 
Department of Agriculture was cited as a precedent, 
and the fact was set forth that the Census Report for 
the year ending June 1, 1900, showed that the aggre- 
gate value of the products of the manufacturing plants 
of the United States for that year was about four times 
the aggregate value of all the products of agriculture for 
the same period. It was argued on these premises that 
there existed all and as strong reasons for the super- 
vision of commerce by the Government, as those that. 
had led to the establishment of the Department of 
Agriculture, and, as a result of the representations be- 
fore congressional committees and the general public 
demand, a bill was originated in the Senate, passed in 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENTS 33 

the House, and on February 14, 1903, approved by the 
President, which recognized and provided for the needs 
of labor and of commerce. Under the provisions of this 
act ^ a new department was added to the executive ad- 
ministration. On February 16, 1903, the appointment 
of George B. Cortelyou, of New York, was confirmed by 
the Senate, and two days later the Secretary of Com- 
merce and Labor, the ninth member of the Cabinet, 
qualified as head of the ninth of the executive depart- 
ments of the Government. 2 The tenth and last of the 
executive departments was created by act approved 
March 4, 1913. By this act the new member of the 
Cabinet was charged with the duty of fostering the 
welfare of the wage-earners of the United States, im- 
proving their working conditions and advancing their 
opportunities for profitable employment; he is enabled 
to perform the duties of mediator and to appoint com- 
missioners of conciliation in labor disputes whenever in 
his judgment the interests of industrial peace may re- 
quire it to be done. From the old Department of Com- 
merce and Labor, the Bureau of Immigration and other 
matters were taken and given to the new department. 
On March 5, 1913, William Bauchop Wilson, of Penn- 
sylvania, became the first Secretary of Labor. 

The tendency of the original creation of the admin- 
istrative machinery was to limit the work of the exec- 
utive departments as well as their number to the bare 

1 32 U.S. Stat. L. 825. 

2 Department of Commerce and Labor, Organization and Law 
(1904). 



34 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

necessities of the Government. The Department of 
Foreign Affairs was made to do double duty under the 
name of the Department of State, but the old conception 
of the Union has changed, and with this change, the old 
restrictive idea has ceased to guide the policies of the 
nation. Expansion is the underlying theory of present 
internal administration, as well as of foreign affairs, and 
it is probable that within a few years the ever-widening 
sphere of executive administration will demand further 
enlargement of the means of doing the increased busi- 
ness of the Government. It is to be expected that the 
history of the Departments of Agriculture, of Commerce, 
and of Labor, foreshadowed in a measure by that of the 
Post-Office Department, will be repeated, and that in 
the near future divisions which now exist as independ- 
ent bureaus or commissions will follow the course of 
these departments and in their turn become parts of the 
executive administration, equal in rank to those that 
were established by the first Congress that assembled 
under the Constitution. It is not improbable that we 
shall some day have a Department of Education de- 
veloped from the Bureau of Education, now in the 
Department of the Interior, and a Department of Trans- 
portation, already foreshadowed, perhaps, by the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission. 

I have thus briefly sketched the creation and develop- 
ment of the executive departments and the Cabinet. It 
is unnecessary to go more fully into the history of each 
of the departments, but it will be of value for us to ex- 
amine more carefully the development of the Depart- 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENTS 35 

ment of Justice, which is the most striking example of 
the development of a great executive department from 
extremely small beginnings, and from what I have to 
say about the Department of Justice one may readily 
understand the similar processes of development which 
have taken place in the other departments. 

It is probable that the character of the early Attor- 
neys-General and their close relation to the Presidents 
under whom they served had much to do with the defin- 
ing of the duties of the office. Randolph had been the 
first Attorney-General of the State of Virginia under its 
new Constitution of 1776. For years he had been on 
terms of intimate friendship with Washington, and be- 
cause of his qualifications and his personal relation it 
was natural that Washington should consider him a 
member of his Executive Council or Cabinet. 

Randolph served as Attorney-General until January 2, 
1794, when he became Secretary of State. In the early 
days of the Administration it was definitely settled that 
the President must look to his Attorney-General for 
legal advice. In 1793 the President asked the advice of 
the federal judges concerning certain questions arising 
under the treaties with France. " It was, perhaps, for- 
tunate for the judges and their successors," writes the 
late Professor James Bradley Thayer, "that the ques- 
tions then proposed came in so formidable a shape as 
they did. There were twenty-nine of them, and they fill 
three large octavo pages. Had they been brief and easily 
answered, the court might not improbably have slipped 
into the adoption of a precedent that would have en- 



36 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

grafted the English usage upon our natic^ial system." 
The judges refused to furnish the advice asked by the 
President. Commenting on this, Professor Thayer adds, 
"As it is, . . . while the President may require the writ- 
ten opinion of his Cabinet, he does not possess a like au- 
thority in regard to the judicial department." ^ So, at 
the outset, it was settled that the Attorney-General was 
the sole legal adviser of the President. It was soon de- 
cided that, although he was the chief law officer of the 
Government, he was not the legal adviser of Congress. 

Few men did more to define the duties of the Attor- 
ney-General than William Wirt, of Maryland and Vir- 
ginia, who accepted the office in October, 1817. In 
January, 1820, he declined to give to the House a legal 
opinion demanded of him, and from that time it has been 
settled that Congress cannot demand legal opinions from 
the Attorney-General. In refusing to act as legal adviser 
to Congress, Wirt said: "It is true that in this case, I 
should have the sanction of the House . . . and it is 
not less true that my respect for the House impels me 
strongly to obey the order. The precedent, however, 
would not be less dangerous on account of the purity of 
the motives in which it originated. I may be wrong in 
my view of the subject; the order may be sanctioned by 
former precedents; but my predecessors in office have 
left nothing for my guidance." ^ 

Wirt also further limited the duties of his office when 
on April 3, 1820, he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, 

1 Legal Essays, pp. 53, 54, note. (1908.) 

2 16th Cong., 1st Sess., vol. 5, House Documents, no. 68, p. 2. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENTS 37 

"As my official duty is confined to the giving my opinion 
on questions of law, I consider myself as having nothing 
to do with the settlement of controverted questions of 
fact." 

The reorganization of the office of the Attorney- 
General was from time to time subject to careful con- 
sideration. President Jackson, in a message to Congress, 
called attention to the need of reorganizing the Attor- 
ney-General's office. He believed that the salary of this 
officer should be increased, that he should be given 
proper quarters for his work and proper assistance, and 
should be charged with the general superintendence of 
the Government's legal matters. ^ It was also proposed 
that the Attorney-General should remain permanently 
in Washington, and not engage in private practice. A 
bill based upon these suggestions failed to pass Congress, 
but in 1830 the office of Solicitor of the Treasury was 
created, and the salary of the Attorney-General was 
raised to $4000, at which amount it remained until 1853. 
President Polk agreed with Jackson in his desire to in- 
crease the duties and responsibilities of the Attorney- 
General, but it was not until Gushing became Attorney- 
General that the office began to assume the form of a 
regular government department. He made certain per- 
tinent suggestions for the reorganization of the depart- 
ment, ^ and it has been said of him that he "raised 
the office of Attorney-General and organized it to be 

^ A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, by 
James D. Richardson, vol. ll, pp. 314-15. 

2 Opinions of the Attorney-General, vol. vi, pp. 326-55. 



38 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

in truth and in fact a department of Government."* 
Gushing devoted considerable thought to the relation of 
the President to the executive departments. ^ 

The Givil War had greatly added to the business of 
the Department of Justice. In 1861 the department 
had grown to such an extent that there were besides 
the Attorney-General an Assistant Attorney-General, a 
Solicitor of the Court of Claims, and the Solicitor of the 
Treasury. From 1861 the district attorneys were under 
the direction of the Attorney-General. ^ The great vol- 
ume of law business arising from the Civil War was 
necessarily performed by special counsel, who were em- 
ployed at a great expense. It is said that between the 
years 1860 and 1870 the Government was obliged to pay 
about $100,000 a year for extra counsel. To this fact, as 
much as to any other, is probably due the reorganization 
of the office of the Attorney-General and its erection into 
the Department of Justice during the Administration of 
President Grant in 1870. The purpose of this act was to 
create for the Federal Government a comprehensive and 
capable law department. And from that time to the 
present Administration, the various law matters of the 
Government have become more and more closely super- 
vised by the Attorney-General. The power of the de- 
partment has greatly increased in the last few years. 
The addition and growth of the Bureau of Investiga- 
tion, the special agents of which, throughout the United 

1 Memorial of Caleb Cushiyig (Newburyport, 1879), p. 169. 

2 Opinions of the Attorney-General, vol. vil, pp. 453-82. 

» Easby Smith, The Department of Justice, pp. 16, 28-30. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEPARTMENTS 39 

States, gather information as to violations of the law, the 
assumption of control over the attorneys of the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission, and the closer subordina- 
tion of the district attorneys which took place under the 
administration of Attorney-General Wickersham, have 
attended the additional power conferred by the pure- 
food laws, white-slave laws, etc., and the broadened 
scope of such laws as section 215, Penal Code, which 
in 1909 was expanded to include, as a violation of the 
privileges of the United States mail, the mailing of any 
letter in pursuance of a scheme to defraud. Previous to 
1909 only schemes which contemplated the use of the 
mails in their inception came under the federal law. 
Under the present law the department has charge of all 
manner of frauds, for few schemes to defraud exist in 
which the mails are not used to some extent, and any use 
of the mails to further the fraud is sufficient to give rise 
to federal prosecution. This change in the law is one 
of the most noticeable additions to the power of the 
Federal Government for the protection of the people. 
Under it the vendors of "fake" or unfairly inflated 
mining and other corporation stocks, are in danger of 
federal penitentiaries, and it covers a great multitude 
of cases. A most striking example of its broad scope is 
found in a case I once prosecuted as United States 
Attorney. The defendant, who pleaded guilty and was 
sentenced to a term in the Atlanta Penitentiary, al- 
though already married, posed as a bachelor, won the 
heart of a lady of some wealth in a rural community, 
and then, under the plea of providing himself a career 



40 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

for the happiness of his betrothed, defrauded her of 
many thousand dollars. He told the lady he was using 
the money to pay his expenses in a prominent medical 
school, whereas, "in truth and in fact," as the indictment 
read, he used the poor lady's funds for the support of his 
wife and family, and for the entertainment of sundry 
other ladies to whom his wife would most certainly have 
objected had she known of his relations with them. The 
laws for the protection of the mails have thus given the 
Federal Government jurisdiction over matters which 
many of the framers of the Constitution would have 
considered as especially without the purview of the 
Federal Government. 



CHAPTER IV 

STATUS OF THE HEADS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPART- 
MENTS COLLECTIVELY, AS AN ADVISORY 
COUNCIL OR CABINET 

Before considering the organization and work of 
the departments whose gradual development has been 
traced, it will be instructive to consider the status of the 
heads of the departments, collectively as a Cabinet, and 
individually as parts of the executive machinery. It is 
essential to a comprehension of the work of the depart- 
ments to understand the essential laws that define or 
indicate the relations that exist between the President, 
the Congress, and the nation at large. In the same 
gradual and tentative manner in which the executive 
administration has been created, the position of the 
Cabinet has been defined, and the rules that govern the 
various departments have been evolved. 

Lord Bryce, the great authority on American Gov- 
ernment, assures us that there is in the Government of 
the United States no such thing as a Cabinet in the 
English sense of the term,^ nor is there in the United 
States a body that takes the position of the boards of 
responsible ministers that in Continental Governments 
bear the name of a Cabinet. The English Cabinet is 
practically a committee of the sovereign, the Parlia- 
ment. From this supreme body it derives its existence, 
^ The American Commonwealth, vol. i, p. 86. 



42 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

and its power and duration depend solely upon the sup- 
port that its creator gives it. The Ministry of the French 
Government occupies a somewhat similar position. Be- 
cause of its relation to the legislative body the "English 
Cabinet is properly called, and in fact is, the "Govern- 
ment." 

The management of the affairs of the allied colonies, 
and of the later association of States under the Articles 
of Confederation, presented a mode of government in 
many ways like that of England to-day, and in the de- 
bates upon the various plans considered by the Con- 
stitutional Convention, there appeared many advocates 
for the adoption of such a system for the new American 
nation. The Constitution, however, provides for noth- 
ing in the nature of a Cabinet nor is such a body recog- 
nized by the laws; yet for want of a better term the col- 
lective heads of the various executive departments have 
from the days of Washington been popularly styled 
"the Cabinet." 

It has been said that the English Cabinet is the exec- 
utive agent of the Commons. The Constitution of the 
United States vests the executive function exclusively 
in the President; and as in England the Cabinet is the 
executive agent of the supreme power that combines all 
functions, so in America, the heads of the departments 
are the agents of the supreme executive power, the 
President. The English Cabinet formulates the policies 
of the Government, but while the American Cabinet 
participates in the formation of executive policies, it 
does so merely as an advisory body, whose advice need 



HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AS CABINET 43 

not be heeded by the President. Its sole legal power lies 
in the individual position of its members as constitu- 
tional officers of the United States and executive agents 
of the President. The records of its meetings have no 
more force than those of any voluntary association, and 
although it plays a part in the national affairs that is 
ever assuming more importance, it has at law no recog- 
nized status of any sort. 

The position of the members of the Cabinet as exec- 
utive advisers arises from their special knowledge of 
their own departments, and from their general knowl- 
edge as experienced men of affairs. Although the Con- 
stitution provides that the President may require the 
opinions of the heads of the executive departments, it 
was not expected that he should do more than ask their 
opinions as individuals. Woodburn^ states that it was 
not contemplated "that he should assemble them to- 
gether for consultation and advice on the general policy 
of the administration." He then says, "He might follow 
this advice or not as he chose: he could proceed with 
the most important political matters without asking it, 
as John Adams did in our French relations in 1800, and 
Jefferson in the Louisiana Treaty in 1803, and in the 
Monroe-Pinkney Treaty of 1806." 

The advisory position of the Cabinet has varied un- 
der different Administrations. Washington usually con- 
sulted his Cabinet members individually. During the 
Administration of Adams the Cabinet took a more 
definite position, and its members asserted advisory 
1 The American Republic and its Government, p. 190. 



44 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

rights. Jefferson's use of his Cabinet is interesting. 
"Where a question occurred of sufficient magnitude to 
require the opinions of all the heads of departments, he 
called them together, had the subject discussed, and a 
vote taken, in which he counted himself as but one. But 
he always seems to have considered that he had the 
power to decide against the opinion of his Cabinet. . . . 
When there were differences of opinion, he aimed to pro- 
duce a unanimous result by discussion, and almost al- 
ways succeeded. But he admits that this practice made 
the Executive, in fact, a directory." ^ Buchanan had 
great difficulty in the management of his Cabinet be- 
cause of his weakness of character, but Lincoln always 
dominated his Secretaries. The Emancipation Procla- 
mation was prepared without their advice, and merely 
submitted to them for suggestion. ^ Andrew Johnson's 
difficulties with Congress led to serious encroachments 
by that body upon the rights of the Executive, and the 
Tenure-of-Office Acts were intended to deprive him of 
control over his own executive agents. President Wilson 
has very clearly stated the advisory position of the 
Cabinet. "Self-reliant men," he writes, "will regard 
their Cabinets as Executive Councils; men less self- 
reliant or more prudent will regard them as also political 
councils, and will wish to call into them men who have 
earned the confidence of their party. The character of 
the Cabinet may be made a nice index of the theory 

1 Woodburn, p. 191. 

2 Stevens, The Sources of the Constitution of the United States in 
Relation to Colonial and English History, p. 168. 



HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AS CABINET 45 

of the presidential office, as well as of the President's 
theory of party government, but the one view is, so far 
as I can see, as constitutional as the other." ^ 

In recent years, especially since the Spanish-American 
War, the tendency has been to accord more rights to the 
Cabinet by the Chief Executive, while attempted con- 
gressional interferences, such as the Tenure-of-Office 
Acts, have been withdrawn. The growing power of the 
President has led to much discussion of the executive 
prerogatives and of the relations of the Cabinet to Con- 
gress. The advisability of giving seats in Congress to 
the cabinet officers has received some attention and 
various propositions have been advanced on the sub- 
ject. Those who favor such a procedure contend that 
should the members of the Cabinet be given seats in 
Congress, with power to introduce and debate upon 
measures but with no power to vote, such a change 
would make the passage of proper departmental legisla- 
tion more easy. The President, since the Federal Ad- 
ministration began, has expressed his wishes directly to 
Congress by messages; indirectly, in person, or through 
his executive officers to the individual members of the 
Senate or the House. In the records of the First Congress 
are instances in which the President himself and even 
members of his Cabinet appeared in Congress to advo- 
cate measures. On the 22d of August, 1789, President 
Washington and the Secretary of War came to the Senate, 
bringing a treaty with the Southern Indians, which the 
Senators were apparently expected to consent to simply 
1 Constitutional Government in the United States, p. 77. 



46 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

on hearing it read. When the whole matter was post- 
poned and referred to a committee, the President, 
records Senator Maclay,^ "wore an aspect of stern dis- 
pleasure," and withdrew at length "with a discontented 
air," and, adds Maclay naively, "had it been any other 
man than the man whom I wish to regard as the first 
character in the world, I would have said, with sullen 
dignity." When the President appeared again in the 
Senate on Monday, the 24th, he had recovered his 
equanimity, and was "placid and serene," consenting to 
amendment of articles of the treaty. ^ 

It was the custom of Washington and it has been the 
practice of President Wilson to appear before Congress 
and deliver his messages on important subjects in 
person. Should the President so desire, there would seem 
to be no constitutional reason why he should not enter 
into debates in Congress upon pending legislation, al- 
though there exist many extra-legal reasons against such 
practice. If the President in person could introduce bills 
and participate in debates in Congress, there would 
seem to be no constitutional reason why he should not 
so act through his executive agents, the members of the 
Cabinet. On the other hand, through the consequent 
right of members of Congress to question cabinet officers 
officially appearing in Congress as to administration 
policies, the President might find himself seriously ham- 
pered in both his legislative and executive programme. 

1 Journal of William Maclay, p. 135. 

2 Rowland, Life and Correspondence of Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton, vol. II, p. 137. 



HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AS CABINET 47 

This question of giving to members of the Cabinet some 
individual and definite relation to Congress has been 
considered from time to time by political theorists and 
in the public press. At present, however, it would seem 
that the President is able without difficulty to exert 
upon Congress the necessary influence for the passage of 
party measures by the means at present existing, and it 
seems doubtful whether any change in this respect is 
likely to occur. I am inclined to the opinion that the 
presence of the Cabinet in Congress would seriously in- 
terfere with the power of the Executive. 

President Wilson has followed the practice in cabinet 
meetings of having each department represented. In 
the absence of the Secretary, an assistant secretary or 
other designated official has appeared to represent the 
department, but this is in no way a radical departure 
from the previous practice. The Vice-President has 
never been considered a member of the Cabinet. From 
certain points of view, it would be a most excellent 
modification of the present practice if the Vice-President 
should be admitted to the regular meetings wherein are 
discussed the executive policies of the Government, and 
such a procedure has from time to time been considered. 
In the main, however, the status of the Cabinet as a 
council has undergone little change since the days of 
President Johnson, and although its powers and rela- 
tions present afield for much interesting speculation, 
as long as our Government retains its present form 
the Cabinet will probably remain in its position as an 
unofficial advisory body, whose influence on general 



48 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

executive policies will depend upon the character of its 
members and the personal force of the President. As to 
the relation of the Vice-President to the Cabinet, the 
Constitution provides that the Vice-President shall be 
President of the Senate, and that he shall have no vote 
unless the Senate be equally divided.^ Article I deals 
with the legislative powers, while Article II deals with 
the executive powers. The executive power is vested 
in the President alone, and the exclusion of the Vice- 
President from the Cabinet seems to be due to the theory 
that during the life of the President the Vice-President's 
executive potentialities are dormant and that he has no 
duties except as President of the Senate, of which he is 
a constitutional part. 

In the beginning there was considerable discussion 
as to the status of the Vice-President and his relation to 
the Government. We are again indebted to Senator 
Maclay for light on this subject. Senator Maclay was 
a Democrat and began to differ with the Federalists 
very early in the first session of the Senate. He boldly 
objected to the presence of the President in the Senate 
while business was being transacted and opposed any 
augmentation of the power of the Executive. According 
to him, John Adams in the session of April 25, 1789, 
said to the Senate, " Gentlemen, I do not know whether 
the framers of the Constitution had in view the two 
Kings of Sparta or the two Consuls of Rome when they 
framed it; one to have all the power while he held it, 
and the other to be nothing. Nor do I know whether the 
^ Art. I, sec. 3, clause 4. 



HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AS CABINET 49 

architect that formed our room and the wide chair in 
it (to hold two, I suppose) had the Constitution before 
him. Gentlemen, I feel great difficulty how to act. I 
am possessed of two separate powers, the one in esse 
and the other in posse. I am Vice-President. In this I 
am nothing, but I may be everything. But I am Presi- 
dent also of the Senate. When the President comes into 
the Senate, what shall I be? I cannot be [President] 
then. No, gentlemen, I cannot, I cannot." ^ 

Senator Elsworth, continues Maclay, thumbed over 
the sheet Constitution and turned it for some time. At 
length he rose and addressed the Chair with the utmost 
gravity. "Mr. President, I have looked over the Con- 
stitution [pause], and I find, sir, it is evident and clear, 
sir, that wherever the Senate are to be, there, sir, you 
must be at the head of them." The Senate itself an- 
swered the Vice-President's query, and ever since the 
Vice-President has remained President of the Senate 
alone, and has had no part in the cabinet councils or the 
work of the Executive. 

Adams, however, fought hard to establish the posi- 
tion of the Vice-President as an executive officer, and 
Maclay narrates many interesting and often amusing 
happenings in the Senate before the executive notion 
was driven from the mind of the presiding officer. He 
signed the proceedings of the Senate at first as "Vice- 
President," and this procedure was the subject of much 
debate in and out of the Senate. The distinguished Rob- 
ert Morris, then Senator from Pennsylvania, thought 
^ Journal of William Maclay, p. 3. 



50 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

this style of signature correct; Senator Carroll, of 
Maryland (the *' Signer")* said he thought it was "a 
matter of indifference," but Maclay rose in the Senate 
and said, " The very term Vice-President carried on the 
face of it the idea of holding the place of the President in 
his absence; that every act done by the Vice-President 
as such implied that when so acting he held the place of 
the President." Seeing the Vice-President "willing to 
bear me down," Maclay continued, "Sir, we know you 
not as Vice-President within this House. As President of 
the Senate only do we know you." ^ 

Another discussion of the matter came up when the 
oath of office was administered to Adams by Senator 
John Langdon, of New Hampshire. The minutes of the 
Senate read: "Mr. Langdon administered the oath to 
the Vice-President," and this started anew the con- 
troversy as to the position of that official. All this dis- 
cussion was concurrent with that as to the titles of the 
various officials, and it is strange to us now to find 
Senators Grayson, of Virginia, and Carroll, of Mary- 
land, opposing all forms of titles, while the New Eng- 
land Senators favored them. For a time it seemed as 
if the President might be styled, "His Highness the 
President of the United States and Protector of the 
Rights of the Same," or " Elective Majesty." In those 
days when the terms of the Constitution were being 
defined and the experiment of democracy was for the 
first time being tried, the debates of Congress are most 
interesting and instructive. Maclay never intended 
^ Maclay, Journal, p. 40. 



HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AS CABINET 51 

his "Journal" to be published. It is, therefore, one of 
the most interesting documents of the time, and well 
worth reading. I cannot resist the temptation to con- 
clude this chapter by a quotation from Maclay as to his 
views of the value of "The Federahst" and even of the 
Constitution itself. He writes, on June 14, 1789: "My 
mind revolts, in many instances, against the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. Indeed, I am afraid it will 
turn out the vilest of all traps that ever was set to en- 
snare the freedom of an unsuspecting people. Treaties 
formed by the Executive of the United States are to be 
the law of the land. To cloak the Executive with legis- 
lative authority is setting aside our modern and much- 
boasted distribution of power into legislative, judicial, 
and executive — discoveries unknown to Locke and 
Montesquieu, and all the ancient writers. It certainly 
contradicts all the modern theory of government, and 
in practice must be tyranny. Memorandum! Get, if I 
can, The Federalist without buying it. It is not worth 
it." 1 

* Journal, p. 75. 



CHAPTER V 

STATUS OF THE HEADS OF THE EXECUTIVE 
DEPARTMENTS INDIVIDUALLY 

The heads of the executive departments are the exec- 
utive agents of the President. Although the Senate par- 
ticipates in their appointment, it is now settled that the 
power of removal is vested in the President alone, and, 
with certain limitations, they are responsible to him 
alone. They are under no direct responsibility to Con- 
gress, except when special duties are laid upon them, and 
their relations to the nation at large arise only by the 
possibility that under certain remote contingencies they 
may be called upon to exercise the presidential functions 
for a limited period. 

The relations of the heads of the departments to the 
President have been defined from time to time by the 
Supreme Court. The questions decided have been of a 
limited nature, but in a general way the law is clearly 
settled. The President acts through the heads of the 
several departments, in relation to the subjects apper- 
taining to their respective duties. ^ It follows from this 
that the act of a department is deemed to be the act of 
the President. 

In the case of Wilcox v. Jackson, 13 Peters, 513, Mr. 
Justice Barbour in discussing an act of the Secretary of 
^ Williams v. United States, 1 Howard, 298. 



INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS 53 

War, said (at page 513) : " The President speaks and acts 
through the heads of the several departments in relation 
to subjects which appertain to their respective duties. 
Both military posts and Indian affairs, including agen- 
cies, belong to the War Department. Hence, we con- 
sider the act of the War Department, in requiring this 
reservation to be made, as being in legal contemplation 
the act of the President, and, consequently, that the 
reservation thus made was in legal effect a reservation 
made by the President within the terms of the act of 
Congress." 

This principle was approved in Hegler v. Faulkner, 
153 U.S. 117, when acts of the Indian department were 
held to be acts of the President. 

This applies only to matters of administration, for 
where the President acts in a judicial capacity, it must 
appear that he acted on the matter himself. This was 
stated by Chief Justice Waite in the case of Dunkle v. 
United States, 122 U.S. 543, where the approval by the 
President of the finding of a court-martial was in ques- 
tion. 

In the case of Kendall, Postmaster-General of the United 
States V. United States, 12 Peters, 524, the power of the 
executive department heads was discussed. Kendall, 
the Postmaster-General, refused to permit payment of 
certain money allowed by his predecessor to contractors 
for work done for the department. These contractors, 
therefore, secured the passage of a bill in Congress direct- 
ing payment, and later the matter was heard on applica- 
tion for a writ of mandamus. Mr. Justice Thompson 



54 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

said (at page 610) that the granting of this writ did not 
involve an interference with the executive power of the 
President. "The executive power is vested in a Presi- 
dent, and as far as his powers are derived from the 
Constitution, he is beyond the reach of any other de- 
partment, except in the mode prescribed by the Con- 
stitution through the impeaching power. But it by 
no means follows that every officer in every branch of 
the department is under the exclusive direction of the 
President. There are certain political duties imposed 
upon many officers in the executive department, the dis- 
charge of which is under the direction of the President. 
But it would be an alarming doctrine that Congress 
cannot impose upon any executive officer any duty they 
may think proper which is not repugnant to any rights 
secured and protected by the Constitution, and in such 
cases, the duty and responsibility grow out of and are 
subject to the control of the law and not to the direction 
of the President. And this is emphatically the case 
where the duty enjoined is of a mere ministerial char- 
acter." The court intimated that the President could 
not refuse to allow the action ordered by Congress or 
restrict it by reason of his power as Executive. 

The general powers of the heads of departments are 
those necessary to the proper discharge of their duties. 
The head of a department has the same power as his 
predecessors to continue an act relating to the business 
of the department.'^ When required to give information 
on any subject he may do so by acting through his sub-? 
1 United States v. MacDaniel, 7 Peters, 13. 



INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS 55 

ordinates.^ He need not show statutory authority for 
every act done. There are numerous instances which 
cannot be anticipated by statutory provision in which 
he must exercise his discretion. ^ Courts cannot usually 
call upon heads of departments to answer in relation to 
official acts. The court said, in Decatur v. Paulding, 
14 Peters, 522, that many acts required of the heads of 
the executive departments required use of discretion, 
and where not purely ministerial were not subject to 
order of the courts. A payment of a pension granted by 
Congress was here refused by the Secretary of the Navy, 
and the refusal sustained, although the law of Kendall v. 
United States was held good. 

Regulations of the executive departments have the 
force of law unless in conflict with acts of Congress, ^ 
and regulations prescribed by the heads of departments 
under congressional authority may lawfully support acts 
done in accordance therewith. 

The position of the heads of the executive departments 
is summed up in Cooley's Blackstone's Commentaries 
(book 1, pages 231 to 236). He there states: "The 
President, not the Cabinet, is responsible for all the 
measures of the Administration, and whatever is done 
by one of the heads of departments is considered as 
done by the President, through the proper executive 
agent. In this fact consists one important difference 
between the Executive (King) of Great Britain and of 

1 Miller v. Mayor of New York, 109 U.S. 394. 

2 United States v. MacDaniel, supra. 

3 United States v. Symonds, 120 U.S. 49. 



56 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

the United States; the acts of the former being con- 
sidered as those of his advisers, who alone are respon- 
sible therefor, while the acts of the advisers of the 
American Executive are considered as directed and con- 
trolled by him." 

This responsibility of the President arises from his in- 
vestment by the Constitution with the executive power. 
His control or power of direction over the executive offi- 
cers arises from his power of removal rather than from 
his power of appointment. Since the President's control 
over his Cabinet depends upon his power to remove any 
of the heads of the departments, some remarks concern- 
ing this power of removal are necessary in considering 
the status of those heads of departments. 

The presidential power of removal is so briefly and 
well set forth in Goodnow's "Comparative Administra- 
tive Law" (vol. I, p. 64) that it will best serve our 
purpose to quote what the President of Johns Hopkins 
University says: — 

" The Constitution gave the power of removal to no 
authority expressly. The question came up before the 
First Congress in the discussion of the act organizing the 
Department of Foreign Affairs. Although there was a 
difference of opinion in the Congress as to who under 
the Constitution possessed this power, it was finally de- 
cided by a very small majority that the power of re- 
moval was a part of the executive power and therefore 
belonged to the President. This was the recognized con- 
struction of the Constitution for a great number of 
years, although it did not meet with the approval of 



INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS 57 

some of the most eminent statesmen. (This construc- 
tion of the Constitution was approved by the United 
States courts in United States v. Avery, Deady, 204.) 
After more than three quarters of a century Congress 
dehberately reversed this decision and by the Tenure- 
of-Office Acts of 1867-69 (later incorporated in the 
Revised Statutes as sections 1767-69) decided that the 
Constitution had not implicitly or expressly settled this 
point, and that Congress was therefore the body to de- 
cide who possessed the power of removal. Congress 
then decided that the power of removal of Senate ap- 
pointments belonged to the President and the Senate. 
(This was constitutional, United States v. Avery, Deady, 
204.) For twenty years this was the law of the land, 
though no one was able to explain exactly what the 
Tenure-of-Office Acts meant, on account of the ob- 
scurity of their wording, but finally, in 1887, Congress 
repealed them. The result is that the early interpreta- 
tion of the Constitution must be regarded as the correct 
one at the present time. That is, the President alone 
has the power of removal of even Senate appointments. 
Though the Tenure-of-Ofiice Acts had the effect of 
temporarily weakening the power of the President, the 
complete power of removal had existed so long as to 
determine the position of the President in the National 
Government, and has been of incalculable advantage in 
producing an efficient and harmonious national adminis- 
tration. The benefits which followed the interpretation 
of the First Congress on this question were unquestion- 
ably the reason why the Tenure-of-Office Acts were 



\/' 



58 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

finally repealed. From the power of removal has been 
evolved the President's power of direction and super- 
vision over the entire national administration. To it is 
due the recognition of the possession by the President of 
the administrative power." 

The proceedings in the First Congress to which Dr. 
Goodnow refers are set forth in full in the journals both 
of William Maclay, Senator from Pennsylvania, and of 
John Adams, then Vice-President, and the importance 
of the decision that the President alone possessed the 
power of removal cannot be overestimated. The de- 
cision was not only important to the Executive, but was 
a definite delimitation of the power of the Senate, which 
at the first session consisted of not more than eighteen 
members, and which showed a considerable tendency to 
become unduly powerful as an advisory council to the 
President. The bill for organizing the Department of 
Foreign Affairs was discussed on the 14th of July, 1789. 
This bill, drawn by Madison, who was then in the 
House of Representatives, provided that the members 
of the new department "shall be appointed by the 
President, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, and to he removable by the President." Senator 
Maclay objected strongly to this power of removal be- 
ing given to the President alone, declaring that "the 
depriving power should be the same as the appointing 
power." The Senate was equally divided on the ques- 
tion, nine for and nine against the President's "un- 
qualified power of removal," and Adams, as President of 
the Senate, decided in favor of the President's power. 



INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS 59 

Maclay considered this a great gain for what he called 
the "Court Party," and an attempt to destroy the 
Senate.^ Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Senator from 
Maryland, spoke strongly in favor of the President's 
power of removal. "The burden of his discourse seemed 
to be the want of power in the President, and a desire of 
increasing it." ^ The Senators seemed fully to realize the 
importance of their decision in the power of removal, 
and Adams gives a digest of Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton's argument which is noteworthy: "The executive 
power is commensurate with the legislative and judicial 
powers. . . . The same power which creates must anni- 
hilate. ... If a minister is suspected to betray secrets 
to an enemy, the Senate not sitting, cannot the Presi- 
dent displace nor suspend? The States-General of 
France demanded that offices should be held during 
good behavior. It is improbable that a bad President 
should be chosen, — but may not bad Senators be chosen? 
Is there a due balance of power between the executive 
and legislative, either in the General Government or 
State Governments? [Montesquieu quoted here] English 
liberty will be lost when the legislative shall be more 
corrupt than the executive." ^ This outline of Carroll's 
argument is enlightening as to the uncertainty that ex- 
isted in those days as to the future of the new Govern- 
ment, even in the mind of one who had signed the 
Declaration of Independence. The President's power of 
removal thus secured has proved not only a great source 

1 Journal of William Maclay, p. 116. ^ md,^ p. X13. 

' Works of John Adams, vol. ill, pp. 408-12. 



60 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

of indirect influence to the President over Congress, but, 
as Dr. Goodnow has said, is the basis of his administra- 
tive power. 

The passage of the Tenure-of-OfRce Acts was caused 
by the desire of Congress to prevent the removal of 
Secretary Stanton by President Johnson and arose from 
the bitter differences of the President and Congress on 
the subject of Reconstruction. Congress deprived the 
President of many of his constitutional prerogatives 
and attempted to change the system of government 
to a form of parliamentary responsibility to Congress. 
This perversion of the provisions of the Constitution 
did not, however, long continue, and to-day Congress 
has little direct power over the heads of the depart- 
ments. It may impose certain duties of a limited na- 
ture upon those who are heads of departments, and 
since they are officers of the United States, it would 
seem that they are liable to impeachment. In 1876, 
Secretary of War Belknap was impeached, but resigned 
before charges were formulated. It is unlikely that 
such proceedings will be frequent, since the only 
result could be removal of the impeached officer. It may 
be said that the cabinet officers have no direct relation 
to Congress, and are in no general way under its direc- 
tion. In the same way, it is true that the heads of the 
executive departments have no direct relation to the 
nation at large, aside from their responsibility as private 
persons to the courts, except as they may be called upon 
to perform the duties of President. 

Although no case has occurred in the history of the 



INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS 61 

Republic in which such a state of affairs has existed, the 
matter of presidential succession of the Cabinet is worthy 
of careful notice. It is provided by law that, in case of 
inability of both President and Vice-President to per- 
form the duties of the office of President, the executive 
functions shall be exercised by one of the heads of the 
executive departments. The Revised Statutes (sections 
146-50) provided for proceedings in case of vacancy in 
the office of both President and Vice-President, and for 
an election to fill the vacancies. The method there 
proposed required that in case of removal, death, resig- 
nation, or inability of both the President and Vice- 
President, the President of the Senate, or, if there were 
none, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
for the time being, should act as President until the 
disability should be removed or a President elected. It 
was not contemplated that this interregnum should be 
of long duration, for the law (passed March 1, 1792) 
required that, whenever the offices of President and 
Vice-President should both become vacant, the Secre- 
tary of State should forthwith cause a notification to 
be made to the Executive of every State, requiring 
that electors of a President and Vice-President be ap- 
pointed or chosen in the several States. If the first 
Wednesday in December were two months distant from 
the time of the notification, the electors were to be ap- 
pointed or chosen within thirty-four days preceding such 
first Wednesday in December. If there should not be the 
space of two months before the first Wednesday of De- 
cember, the same date in the year next ensuing was to be 



62 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

set as the time for the meeting and voting of the electors ; 
but in this last case, if the term for which the President 
and Vice-President last in office were elected would ex- 
pire on the 3d of March next ensuing, no special election 
was required. 1 This act was never brought into service, 
nor the effect of its provisions tested. It presented obvi- 
ous objections that in the beginning of the Republic were 
not fully appreciated. It might well occur that the Presi- 
dent of the Senate or the Speaker of the House would be 
members of a party opposed to that of the President or 
Vice-President, or that these officers, while belonging to 
the same party, would represent a faction opposed in 
policy to the former Executive. The disastrous results of 
a sudden change in the attitude and direction of the 
Executive need not be commented upon. This old act 
was of a piece with the early provisions that allowed a 
President and Vice-President to be elected who belonged 
to different parties. 

The development of the executive power and of the 
position of the heads of the executive departments is well 
shown in the Act of January 17, 1886, which repealed the 
old act for filling the presidential office. This act names 
as successor to the Presidency, in case of inability of 
both the President and Vice-President, the Secretary of 
State, and if there be none, or if he be incapacitated, 
the Secretary of the Treasury. Under the same circum- 
stances, on inability of this officer, the office is to be 
filled by the Secretary of War, the Attorney-General, 
the Postmaster-General, the Secretary of the Navy, or 
, 1 1 U.S. Stat. L. 239. 



INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT HEADS 63 

the Secretary of the Interior, in the order named. The 
Departments of Agriculture, of Commerce, and of La- 
bor, not being at that time created, their heads were 
not named as possible Presidents. It is usually stated 
that the order of succession followed that of the estab- 
lishment in time of the departments, but this statement 
is based upon the erroneous belief that the Treasury 
Department antedated that of War. The succession fol- 
lowed, however, the order of precedence that has from 
the first been recognized among the members of the 
Cabinet. 

By the provisions of this act, the continuance of the 
policy of the Administration is assured until the election 
of the next President. The method of such election is 
not provided for, the act merely stating that if Congress 
be not at the time in session, or not to meet within 
twenty days thereafter, the person on whom the presi- 
dential duty should devolve shall issue a proclamation 
convening Congress in extraordinary session, giving 
twenty days' notice of the time of meeting. The act 
does not state what Congress is to do if it be in session or 
at its meeting, and no cause has arisen to test this act in 
any way. 

The act requires that the persons named shall have 
been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate 
to the offices named in the act, possess the requisite con- 
stitutional qualifications, and be not under impeach- 
ment by the House of Representatives at the time the 
powers and duties of the office devolve upon them re- 
spectively. This last clause is of interest because of its 



64 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

definite assumption that the members of the Cabinet 
are liable to impeachment as within the class of "civil 
officers of the United States" who may be removed from 
office on impeachment/ and for the further recognition 
of the fact that heads of the departments are among 
those "other officers of the United States," whose 
appointment is by the Constitution ^ made subject to 
the advice and consent of the Senate. 

* Constitution, art. ii, sec. 4. 2 jud., art. Ii, sec. 2. 



CHAPTER VI 

ORGANIZATION OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 

Having traced the creation and development of the 
various departments and noted the present status of the 
executive officers of the Government, we are now in a 
position to consider the organization and regulations 
that control actual administration. It will be helpful to 
take a bird's-eye view of the Federal Executive as a 
whole before proceeding to consider the typical organ- 
ization of the departments. At the head of the Federal 
Executive stands the President alone. The Vice-Presi- 
dent has no place in the executive machinery, nor is 
there any other officer of the Government qualified to 
act as an assistant President. The Secretary to the 
President comes nearest of any of the federal officials 
to holding the place of assistant President, and some 
holders of this position have cast envious eyes at the 
title "Assistant to the President." The Secretary to the 
President is chief of the President's particular execu- 
tive assistants, and is the gateway of approach through 
which all must pass who desire to confer with the Chief 
Executive in person. The Secretary, therefore, occupies 
a position of extreme importance, and his personality 
and ability may make or mar the success of his chief's 
Administration. He is not a member of the Cabinet, 
although brought into intimate relation with the mem- 
bers of that unofficial body. Since he is really an exten- 



66 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

sion of the President's own personality, there seems to 
be no reason for any change in the status that the Secre- 
tary to the President now maintains. He is assisted in 
his work by the executive clerk, the chief clerk, and 
the various office clerks, stenographers, doorkeepers, 
messengers, and other attaches of the President's office. 
There are ten members of the President's Cabinet who 
are heads of the ten executive departments. The fol- 
lowing is a bare tabulation of the principal officers or 
divisions under which the work assigned to the various 
departments is performed. The names of the various 
bureaus and divisions of many of the departments are 
not here set forth, nor is the following summary in any 
way a complete statement of the agencies through which 
the Federal Executive acts. The summary, however, 
will be of great assistance to the general reader by show- 
ing in brief space the functions of all the departments, 
and should I ever give to any body of students an ex- 
amination upon the subject of the Federal Executive, I 
should most strongly recommend them to study care- 
fully the following analysis. The ten members of the 
Cabinet and the chief agencies of the Federal Executive 
are: — 

I. The Secretary of State. 

The Counselor, Solicitor, the Assistant Secretary, Second 
Assistant Secretary, Third Assistant Secretary, Director of 
the Consular Service, Chief Clerk, Chiefs of Bureaus and 
Divisions. 
II. The Secretary of the Treasury. 

Three Assistant Secretaries, Chief Clerk, Chiefs of Divi- 
sions, Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasurer, Commis- 
sioner of Internal Revenue, Director of the Mint, Comptrol- 



ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENTS 67 

ler of the Treasury, the Auditors f or'the various Departments, 
the Register of the Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and 
Printing, Bureau of the Public Health, Coast Guard Serv- 
ice, Supervising Architects' Office. 

III. The Secretary of War. 

Assistant Secretary, Assistant and Chief Clerk, Chiefs of 
Divisions, General Staff Corps, the Offices of the Adjutant- 
General, Inspector-General, Judge-Advocate-General, Quar- 
termaster General, Surgeon-General, Chief of Engineers, 
Chief of Ordnance, Chief Signal Officer, Bureau of Insular 
Affairs (Philippine Commission, Porto Rico Government, 
and Dominican Receivership), Board of Engineers for 
Rivers and Harbors, Office of Public Buildings, United States 
Engineer Office, Board of Ordnance and Fortifications. 

IV. The Attorney-General. 

The Solicitor-General, the Assistant to the Attorney- 
General, Assistant Attorneys-General, Attorneys and Special 
Assistants, Chief Clerk. 
V. The Postmaster-General. 

The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Assistant Post- 
masters-General, with the Chief Clerks and forces of their 
respective offices. 

VI. The Secretary of the Navy, 

The Assistant Secretary, the Aides for Operations, Marine 
Corps, Personnel, Material, Education, Director of the Navy 
Yards, Chief Clerk of the Department, the Office of the 
Admiral of the Navy, the Bureaus of Navigation, Yards and 
Docks, Ordnance, Construction and Repair, Steam Engineer- 
ing, Supplies and Accounts, Medicine and Surgery, Office of 
the Judge-Advocate-General, the General Board, etc. 

VII. The Secretary of the Interior. 

Two Assistant Secretaries, Chief Clerk, the Commission- 
ers of the General Land Office, of the Patent Office, of Pen- 
sions, of Indian Affairs, of Education, the Directors of the 
Geological Survey, the Reclamation Service, and of Mines. 

VIII. The Secretary of Agriculture. 

The Assistant Secretary, Chief Clerk, Solicitor, Chiefs of 
the Weather Bureau, of Animal Industry, of Plant Industry, 
of Forest Service, of Chemistry, of Soils, of Entomology, etc. 



68 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

IX. The Secretary of Commerce. 

The Assistant Secretary, Chief Clerk, Director of the 
Census, Commissioner of Corporations, Chief of the Bureau 
of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, and the Directors or 
Commissioners of the Bureaus of Standards, Fisheries, Light- 
houses, and Navigation. The Superintendent of the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey. 

X. The Secretary of Labor. 

The Assistant Secretary, the Chief Clerk, the Commis- 
sioners of Immigration, of Naturalization, and of Labor 
Statistics, the Chief of the Children's Bureau. 

In a general way the departments are organized upon 
the same plan, and are subject to similar regulations for 
the conduct of their business, but from the nature of 
their work and the mode of their development it neces- 
sarily results that marked differences exist in the internal 
structure of each. In the early days, the routine business 
was apportioned among the several clerks, while the 
Secretary and chief clerk of each department held the 
position of executive and directing officers. In this way 
one clerk would have entire charge of a certain division 
of work, under the supervision of the head of the depart- 
ment and the chief clerk, who held the post of general 
superintendent of all the subordinate officers and em- 
ployees. As the business of the department grew, it was 
necessary to increase the force employed on the separate 
divisions of the work, and in this way developed the 
present system of coordinate subdivisions that exists, 
under different names, in all of the departments. The 
Secretary and assistant secretaries at the head of the de- 
partment, with a chief clerk having direct supervision 
of all inferior clerks, form the executive management of 



ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENTS 69 

the department. The subdivisions of each department 
are in a similar manner under the direction of an officer 
denominated Director, Commissioner, Chief of Bureau, 
Chief of Division, or Superintendent, to agree with the 
designations applying to the subdivisions in each of the 
departments. In the Department of State these sub- 
divisions are termed Biu*eaus, and the names of the 
Bureau of Accounts, the Consular and the Diplomatic 
Bureaus, indicate the duties of these subdivisions. In the 
Treasury Department these unitary organizations are 
simply termed Divisions, with Chiefs of Divisions, while 
the Bureaus of the Department of Commerce are most 
frequently in charge of Commissioners or Directors. 

The heads of these subdivisions are frequently aided 
in their executive duties by chief clerks or assistants, 
whose position in the subdivision corresponds some- 
what to that held by the Chief Clerk of the Department. 

The Treasury Department differs from the typical 
organization in that the Comptroller of the Treasury, 
the Register, the Treasurer, the Supervising Architect, 
and the other officers, like the Director of the Mint and 
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, occupy a posi- 
tion of greater independent importance than that held 
by the chiefs of the ordinary bureaus or divisions, cor- 
responding more to the various commissioners in the 
Department of Commerce. The regular work of the 
departments is conducted in these divisions by a great 
company of clerks whose duties and responsibilities vary 
in a great degree. In addition to these clerks, there are 
the miscellaneous employees of all sorts, — watchmen. 



70 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

laborers, messengers, — that are essential to the conduct 
of the great business organizations. A clear comprehen- 
sion of the detailed organization of each department can 
be got only from an examination of the register of each 
department, but is not essential to a general under- 
standing of the department management. It will be in- 
structive, however, to examine in detail the register of 
some of the departments in order to see the general plan. 
The State Department has, perhaps, the simplest or- 
ganization, and will, in a limited way, serve as a typical 
illustration. Its organization is as follows: — 

Counselor for the Department of State. 

The Assistant Secretary. 

Second Assistant Secretary. 

Third Assistant Secretary. 

Director of the Consular Service. 

Chief Clerk. 

Solicitor. 

Foreign Trade Advisers. 

TDhief of Bureau of — 

Accounts and disbursing clerk; 

Appointments; 

Citizenship; 

Consular; 

Diplomatic; 

Indexes and Archives; 

Rolls and Library. 
Chief of Division of — 

Far-Eastern Affairs; 

Information; 

Latin- American Affairs; 

Mexican Affairs; 

Near-Eastern Affairs; 

Western-European Affairs. 
Translators. 
Assistant Solicitors. 

Private Secretary to the Secretary of State. 
Law Clerks. 
Confidential Clerk to the Secretary of State. 



ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENTS 71 

It would be extremely tiresome to go through all the 
departments in this manner, and the general organization 
of each will appear from the duties it performs. 

The character of the duties assigned to the assistant 
secretaries differs somewhat in the various departments, 
but as a rule they have entire direction of specified 
branches of the work and in many departments enjoy a 
great measure of independence. 

The duties of the chief clerk are practically the same 
in every department. He is the executive ofiicer of the 
department under the Secretary, and his position is one 
of great importance. It was a matter of frequent occur- 
rence in the early days of the Government for the chief 
clerk to become Acting Secretary during the temporary 
absence or upon a vacancy in the office of the Secretary. 
At present the chief clerk has the general supervision 
of the clerks and employees, and of the business of the 
department. Each clerk is required to record the time 
of his daily arrival and departure from the department, 
and at the end of the month these reports are filed with 
the chief clerk. It is the rule in most of the departments 
that no clerk is allowed to leave the building during 
office hours without express permission of the chief clerk, 
who is thus in a position to know at all times what force 
he has available for the extra work that the exigencies 
of the service may at any time call for. After the daily 
mail is opened and indexed by the proper persons, it is 
the practice in most of the departments to have it read 
by the chief clerk and distributed by him to the assistant 
secretaries, or otherwise dealt with, and in the same way 



72 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

all letters written by the department come under his 
supervision. He has also supervision of the various pub- 
lications of the department and control and oversight 
of its property. 

The great body of clerks in the various bureaus and 
divisions are all subjected to some sort of examination 
before being employed by the Government, and a large 
part of them are subject to the rules of the so-called 
"classified service." This classification has steadily 
grown in importance. Sections 163 and 164 of the Re- 
vised Statutes provided for the arrangement of clerks in 
four classes, distinguished as the first, second, third, and 
fourth class, and for the examination and qualification 
of these clerks before their appointment. 

These sections are superseded by the Civil Service 
Act of January 16, 1883,^ which makes more compre- 
hensive provisions for examinations for testing the fit- 
ness of applicants for the public service, and for appoint- 
ments and promotions as the result of such examinations. 
By this act the United States Civil-Service Commission 
was established, to consist of three commissioners, not 
more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same 
party. These commissioners are to be appointed by the 
President by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate. The act retains the old classification of clerks, 
and makes minute regulations as to the manner and 
modes of conducting examinations, and for making ap- 
pointments and promotions from the lists of successful 
competitors. It is only necessary for our purpose to note 
1 22 U.S. Stat. L. 403. 



ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENTS 73 

that some examination is necessary for almost all per- 
sons in the government service, and that for those 
classifications of clerks that have been placed by the 
President or by the law itself in the classified service, the 
regulations are carefully provided in order to secure the 
most efficient service to the Government. 

There were 395,460 positions in the executive civil 
service on June 30, 1912, according to statistics based 
upon reports to the Commission, of which 236,061 were 
classified subject to competitive examination under the 
civil-service rules. The number of classified positions 
was increased by about 20,000 by the classification of 
artisans in the navy-yard service under executive order 
of December 7, 1912. Persons employed merely as 
laborers or workmen and persons nominated for con- 
firmation by the Senate are exempted from the require- 
ments of classification. Within these limits certain 
classes of positions are excepted from examination — 
among them, Indians in the Indian service, attorneys, 
pension examining surgeons, field deputy marshals, and 
a few employees whose duties are of an important con- 
fidential or fiduciary nature. By an executive order of 
October 15, 1912, the President classified all fourth-class 
post-offices not before classified, the number being 36,236. 

Various examinations are held in every State and 
Territory at least twice a year. The examinations range 
in scope from technical, professional, or scientific sub- 
jects to those based wholly upon the physical condition 
and experience of the applicant, and in some cases do 
not require ability to read or write. During the fiscal 



74 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

year ended June 30, 1912, 33,240 persons were appointed 
through examinations, including 12,807 navy-yard em- 
ployees. 

The salaries of all persons in the service of the depart- 
ments are provided by law, from those of the Secretaries 
to those of the lowest grade of laborers. It was pro- 
vided that the heads of departments should receive 
an annual emolument of $10,000,^ but by the Act of 
January 20, 1847, this was reduced to $8000, and by the 
Act of March 4, 1911, increased to $12,000, which is the 
present salary of all cabinet officers. The assistant secre- 
taries receive from $4000 to $6000. The clerks of the 
fourth class are allowed $1800, while those of the third, 
second, and first classes receive respectively $1600, 
$1400, and $1200. The lowest grade of employees are 
classed as laborers and are paid $720. The salaries of 
chief clerks, commissioners, and others vary from $2000 
to $6000. 

Many details of general departmental regulations are 
provided by the Revised Statutes of the United States, 
but the only remaining matter of interest is the provi- 
sion that legal advice is to be had by the heads of the 
departments only from the Attorney-General. ^ The 
remaining matters of organization and regulations are 
best seen by examining the departments separately. 

I am indebted to Hon. John A. Mcllhenny, President 

of the United States Civil Service Commission, for the 

following information as to the civil service on February 

15, 1915. The extent of the executive civil service is as 

1 U.S. Rev. Stat., sec. 160. ^ j^icl^^ gee. 187. 



ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENTS 75 

follows, based upon reports furnished by the several de- 
partments, to the Commission. Owing to inaccuracies 
in this method of reporting and inadvertent omissions, 
the figures must be accepted as only approximate. On 
June 30, 1914, there were 482,721 officers and employees 
in the executive civil service. Of these, 292,460 held 
positions subject to competitive examination under the 
civil-service rules, an increase of 9863 during the year. 
Of the 190,261 persons whose positions are not sub- 
ject to competitive examination under the civil-service 
rules, 10,652 are presidential appointees, 8650 being 
postmasters of the first, second, and third classes; 5042 
are clerks in charge of contract postal stations; 73,000 
are clerks in third and fourth class post-offices; 7910 are 
mail messengers; 12,532 are star-route, steamboat, and 
screen- wagon contractors; 4641 are pension examining 
surgeons; 28,605 are engaged on the Isthmian Canal 
work, chiefly as laborers and minor employees; 729 are 
employees of the Department of Commerce, mostly of 
the Census Bureau; and 26,339 are unclassified laborers 
not elsewhere herein enumerated, of whom 6500 are 
subject to tests of physical fitness under labor regula- 
tions. The remaining 20,811 are excepted from exami- 
nation under Schedule B of the civil-service rules, of 
whom 1069 are employed in Washington and the others 
in branches of the field service. Few important posi- 
tions are excepted from competitive examination under 
Schedules A and B. Their great variety will be seen by 
reference to those schedules. 



CHAPTER VII 

FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS IN 

MAINTAINING A "MORE PERFECT UNION" 

THE DEPARTMENTS OF STATE, THE 

TREASURY, AND THE INTERIOR 

We have considered the constitutional authority for 
the executive administration, and the manner in which 
Congress has from time to time provided for the needs 
of this administration by the estabhshment of the vari- 
ous departments. We have also examined the status of 
the heads of the departments, collectively as an Advi- 
sory Council, or Cabinet, and individually as executive 
agents in control of separate divisions of the administra- 
tion. I have attempted to give some idea of the general 
organization of these independent divisions. In the re- 
maining chapters, I shall endeavor to show the scope of 
the Government's administration, and the methods it 
employs in fulfilling its functions. In order to do this, 
we will take up the departments separately, and indicate 
what their duties are and how discharged. It will be im- 
possible to go into the historical development of the 
various functions, for this would include a large part 
of the history of the nation, and it will, therefore, be 
necessary to pass over many things that invite careful 
study. The circumstances attending the various treaties 
concluded under the direction of the Department of 
State; the results of the many arbitrations it has ar- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 77 

ranged; the results of the work of the War Department 
in engineering matters; the results of the labors of the 
Geological and Coast Survey, — all these fill many- 
volumes of reports and furnish much matter of interest 
to the student of history and government. We shall 
have to pass them by, however, with such brief notice 
as will suffice to make them intelligible as illustrations of 
what has been accomplished by the working of the ad- 
ministrative machine whose mechanism we are exam- 
ining. 

We have already seen that there are ten executive 
departments, in the order in which they are at present 
ranked,^ — ^ State, Treasury, War, Justice, Post-Office, 
Navy, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor. Each 
of these executive departments performs certain func- 
tions of the Federal Executive. It is impossible to make 
a rigid classification of the functions of the Executive 
they perform, but it has seemed to me, taking the pre- 
amble to the Constitution as a guide to the functions of 
the Executive, that the work of these ten departments 
falls into four divisions. The Departments of State, the 
Treasury, and the Interior deal with foreign and do- 
mestic relations and the finances of the Government 
itself. I have, therefore, considered them together under 
the title of this chapter, "Functions of the Executive 
Departments in Maintaining a 'More Perfect Union.' " 
The work done by these three departments is necessary 
for the existence of the United States as a nation; it 
must have funds; it must have dealings with its neigh- 
* Congressional Directory, December, 1914. 



78 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

bors; and it must look out for its public lands and other 
internal matters. The Departments of War, the Navy, 
and Justice are all for the purpose of "insuring domestic 
tranquillity." The first two departments are primarily 
for the purpose of providing a common defense against 
foreign enemies, although the War Department in the 
Civil War, and in the occasional use of regular troops in 
case of internal disorder, protected the people of the 
nation from internal disintegration and turmoil. The 
Department of Justice devotes itself to the preservation 
of that portion of domestic tranquillity which is not 
provided for through the police and legal departments of 
the States. I shall discuss these three departments in 
the same chapter. The Departments of Agriculture, of 
Commerce, and of Labor will be considered under a 
chapter entitled, "Functions of the Executive Depart- 
ments in 'Promoting the General Welfare.'" We have 
thus classified all of the ten departments except that of 
the Post-Office. I have already pointed out that as a 
purely governmental function, the Post-OfRce is an 
anomaly. It, however, in terms of the preamble to the 
Constitution, devotes itself most certainly to securing 
for the people of the United States certain of "the bless- 
ings of liberty." Unlike the Departments of Agriculture, 
of Commerce, and of Labor, it does not promote the 
general welfare of any one element of national prosper- 
ity. It is not necessary like the Departments of State, 
the Treasury, and the Interior, for the maintenance 
of the Government itself, nor is it necessary, like the 
Departments of War, the Navy, and Justice, for the 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 79 

protection either of the Government or the individual 
citizen. Primarily, with its means of transporting intel- 
ligence and its banking facilities of money orders and 
savings banks, it is a convenience to the individual 
citizen as well as to the Government itself, and may be 
regarded more as a "blessing of liberty" than as an 
essential to securing or protecting the Union, a luxury 
of liberty rather than a necessity of liberty. 

We will first consider the foreign relations of the 
United States as cared for by the State Department. 

The Government of the United States is in intimate 
relation with twenty American Republics, and there are 
at Washington more diplomatic representatives of for- 
eign countries than in any other capital. In the period 
from 1896 to 1909 the foreign trade of this country had 
been growing from $1,662,331,612 to the enormous total 
of $2,950,275,817, an increase of seventy-eight per cent. 
This increase in trade alone greatly added to the work 
of the diplomatic and consular offices of the Depart- 
ment. The war with Spain had marked a new epoch in 
the history of American foreign relations, and the State 
Department was called upon to deal with a multitude of 
questions with which before it had not been concerned. 
A reorganization of the department was imperatively 
demanded by reason of its greatly increased functions. 
The Hague Conferences, boundary adjustments, arbitra- 
tions, and the efforts of the United States to improve 
conditions in Central America were among the active 
duties of the department. The increasing number of 
questions arising from the development of Mexico and 



80 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

the protection of interests of nearly forty thousand of our 
citizens who had temporarily taken up their residence 
and invested nearly $1,000,000,000 of American money 
in that country, together with the general increase in the 
work of the department, caused its reorganization under 
the direction of Secretary Root in 1909. In this reorgan- 
ization there were created in the department a number 
of new officials and divisions. The posts of Counsel for 
the Department and Resident Diplomatic Officer were 
posts of importance that were added to the department. 
The post of Counselor, under the Administration of 
President Wilson and the secretaryship of Mr. Bryan, 
assumed added importance in the fact that by the prac- 
tice adopted, the Counselor, rather than the First As- 
sistant Secretary of State, becomes Acting Secretary of 
State in the absence of that officer. A Division of Wes- 
tern-European Affairs, one of Near-Eastern Affairs, 
and various other divisions and bureaus were created 
in the department. 

Aside from the time and attention required by his 
general duties to the President, as a member of the 
Cabinet, involving many questions of domestic poHcy, 
the Secretary of State is primarily responsible for the 
conduct of foreign relations. He has charge of all mat- 
ters relating to the public Ministers and Consuls of the 
United States, and with the representatives of foreign 
powers accredited to it, and to negotiations of every 
character relating to foreign affairs. He is also the 
medium of correspondence between the President and 
the chief executives of the several States, and has cus- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 81 

tody of the Great Seal, which he affixes to all executive 
proclamations, to various commissions, and to warrants 
for the extradition of fugitives from justice. He is also 
the custodian of the treaties made with foreign states, 
and of the laws of the United States, and the Depart- 
ment of State grants and issues passports and ex- 
equaturs to foreign consuls in the United States. The 
immigration into this country increased from 343,267 
in 1896 to 751,786 in 1909. The emigration increased 
from 329,558 in 1896 to 586,452 in 1909. Every immi- 
grant coming to this country, and every American citi- 
zen going to a foreign country, in one way or another is 
likely to cause work for the Department of State. 

The personnel of the organization of the Department 
of State has been given in detail in Chapter VI. The 
work of the department is chiefly conducted through its 
four principal divisions, — Latin-American Affairs, Far- 
Eastern Affairs, Near-Eastern Affairs, Western-Euro- 
pean Affairs, — its Division of Information, the Diplo- 
matic Bureau, the Consular Bureau, and the Bureau of 
Citizenship. Bureaus of Appointment, of Indexes and 
Archives, of Accounts, of Rolls and Library, and of In- 
formation are subsidiary elements in the work of the 
department. In addition to the general direction of the 
Department of State, the Secretary personally receives 
the representatives of foreign countries for the discussion 
of diplomatic business and is in touch with the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

The office of the Assistant Secretary, which corre- 
sponds to that of Under-Secretary or Vice-Minister for 



82 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Foreign Affairs in foreign offices, has also general direc- 
tion of the department under the Secretary. The prac- 
tice as to departmental duties varies in different Admin- 
istrations, but as a general rule the Assistant Secretary- 
does not specialize, but holds himself in readiness to 
take the place of the Secretary in general matters of 
direction. The Second Assistant Secretary of State is 
charged with detailed treatment of diplomatic and po- 
litical questions, while the administrative work of the 
diplomatic service as distinguished from the treatment 
of subjects of international intercourse, is delegated to 
the Third Assistant Secretary of State. The Counselor 
devotes himself to the study of pending diplomatic 
questions, but as I have indicated, under the present 
Administration, is sometimes called upon to assume the 
duties of the Secretary in his absence. Before Secretary 
Lansing succeeded Mr. Bryan, he performed most im- 
portant functions as Counselor. 

The Division of Latin-American Affairs has charge of 
all diplomatic and consular questions relating to Mexico, 
Central and South America, and the West Indies. As 
an index of the amount of its work it may be noted that 
it annually prepares more than nine thousand communi- 
cations, such as instructions to diplomatic and consular 
offices by mail and telegraph, and notes to diplomatic 
and consular representatives of other governments. It 
deals with such questions as the obtaining permission in 
Mexico for the construction of such work as that of the 
Colorado River projects, the settlement of such mining 
cases as the Rincon Mine Company's case, enforcement 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 83 

of the neutrality laws, the release of Americans charged 
with various offenses, and all matters generally arising 
in the ordinary intercourse of American citizens and the 
Mexican Government. In Haiti, the State Department 
has at times exercised a large sphere of influence, among 
its most important achievements being that of securing 
participation of American financiers in the recent finan- 
cial adjustment of Haitian affairs. In Venezuela there 
have been such matters as the settlement of the Orinoco 
Company's cases against Venezuela for $385,000, pend- 
ing since 1890, and the settlement of various other claims 
of American interests. The Division of Latin-American 
Affairs is one of the most important divisions in the 
State Department, and will become increasingly im- 
portant as our relations with Mexico and Central and 
South America grow stronger. 

The Division of Far-Eastern Affairs has charge of 
matters relating to Japan, China, Siberia, Hongkong, 
French Indo-China, Siam, the Straits Settlements, 
Borneo, East Indies, India, and in general the Far East. 
As examples of subjects studied by the Division of Far- 
Eastern Affairs there may be cited matters concerning 
the policy of that division, tending to the cooperation of 
the United States with the other great Powers in relation 
to the political integrity of China and the "open door" 
of equality of commercial opportunity. Such matters as 
the protection of American missionaries and the general 
protection of American interests constantly occupy the 
attention of this division. 

The Division of Near-Eastern Affairs relates to Ger- 



84 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

many, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Roumania, Servia, Bul- 
garia, Montenegro, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Abyssinia, 
Persia, Egypt, and colonies belonging to countries of 
this series. This is naturally a very important division. 
Railway concessions in Turkey, the diplomatic aspects 
of the potash controversy with Germany, questions re- 
lating to the treatment of American Jews in Russia, and 
similar matters fall into the province of this division. 
The remaining division of the State Department is that 
of Western-European Affairs, and deals with matters re- 
lating to Great Britain (Canada, Australia, New Zea- 
land, and British colonies not elsewhere enumerated), 
Portugal, Spain, France, Morocco, Belgium, the Congo, 
Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Lux- 
emburg, Denmark, and Liberia. All sorts of questions 
come before this division, but in the main it is sufficient 
to say that it deals with all international questions be- 
tween the United States and the countries in that divi- 
sion, relating to the rights of the United States or to the 
rights of any of its citizens. 

The above is, I fear, a not especially interesting de- 
scription of the functions of the State Department, but 
it is impossible to condense in a few pages an any more 
instructive account of its work. There is no department 
in the Government which deals with more interesting 
questions. They are most essentially human questions, 
affecting the relations between nations and individual 
men, and concerning such dealings only detailed ac- 
counts can portray their living interests. The seizure by 
English cruisers of American vessels as carriers of contra- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 85 

band articles during the present European war, the 
rights of neutral vessels in the North Sea, and hundreds 
of vital and important questions for the State Depart- 
ment arise from this great international conflict. All I 
am attempting to do is to indicate in a general way the 
duties of the department, and it is impossible for me to 
stray into the alluring realms of diplomatic history. It 
is not improper to say, however, that although much of 
great interest has been written of the diplomatic history 
of this country, there are still unexplored fields in the 
archives of the State Department inviting the work of 
the student in American history. ^ 

The heads of most of the executive departments make 
their annual reports of the work of their departments to 
the President, who transmits them to Congress. As I 
have already pointed out, the Treasury Department in 
its organization differs in a number of particulars from 
the departments that were created coincidently with it, 
War and State. The management of the finances of 
the Government seemed to the members of the First 
Congress and to the men who formulated the plans for 
the Treasury Department of such great importance that 

1 President Wilson, in Cleveland, on January 29, 1916, stated 
the policy of the United States as follows: "America has not only 
to assert her rights to her own life within her own borders, but she 
has to assert the right of equal and just treatment of her citizens 
wherever they go. And she has something more than that to insist 
upon, because she has made up her mind long ago that she is going 
to stand, so far as this whole Western Hemisphere is concerned, for 
the right of people to choose their own policies without foreign in- 
fluence or interference." In the first instance, the carrying-out of 
this generally accepted policy falls upon the State Department. 



86 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Congress was given some control over the Treasury, 
whereas it had none over the other departments. 

The work of the Treasury Department has assumed 
enormous proportions. This can be noted in no more 
striking manner than by an examination of the estimates 
of government disbursements for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1914. In his report for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1912, Secretary MacVeagh placed the above 
appropriations at $732,556,023.03. These estimates 
were exclusive of those for expenditures for the Panama 
Canal, which were to be paid from bond sales, and those 
of the postal service, which were to be repaid from postal 
receipts. The estimated expenditures for the Panama 
Canal for the same period are $30,174,432.11. The or- 
dinary receipts during the current fiscal year of 1913 
were estimated at $711,000,000, and the ordinary dis- 
bursements at $670,800,000, showing an expected ex- 
cess of receipts of $40,200,000. It may be interesting to 
notice some of the elements of receipts and some of the 
elements of disbursements for the year 1913 in order 
to see from what sources the Government realizes its 
enormous revenues and for what purposes these moneys 
are expended. Of these estimated receipts $328,000,000 
were expected from customs; $297,000,000 from internal 
revenue taxes, — that is to say from taxes on spirits, 
oleomargarine, etc. ; $29,000,000, from the tax on the net 
income of corporations; and $57,000,000 from miscella- 
neous sources. Of the estimated expenditures from these 
receipts, $177,000,000 was for the civil establishment of 
the Government, including all expenses of Congress, the 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 87 

executive departments, etc.; $158,000,000 for the War 
Department; $130,000,000 for the Navy Department; 
$18,000,000 for the Indian service; $22,800,000 for in- 
terest on the pubhc debt; and $165,000,000 for pensions. 
It will be noted that the amount paid in pensions nearly 
equals the cost of the maintenance of the civil estab- 
lishment of the Government. 

As to this enormous sum for pensions, it is interesting 
to note the comment made by former President Taft 
upon the subject of pensions in his "Popular Govern- 
ment," published by the Yale University Press in 1913. 
On page 524, he says: "Those pensions are not properly 
a part of the expense of the military system of the 
United States and ought not to play a part in determin- 
ing the expenses of our present army and navy. They 
are due to our not having an adequate army ready in 
the past. Certain it is that the larger army and navy we 
maintain, the less in size will be our pension list after 
another war, should we have one, because the more 
adequate provision we make for a prompt and active 
campaign, the less men we shall enlist and the less their 
loss of life and limb." 

It is necessary to call attention to the above receipts 
and expenditures of the Government in order that the 
usual well-informed American may realize that the 
Treasury Department has much more important duties 
than the opening of travelers' trunks upon their return 
from a summer vacation in Europe, or the laundering of 
bank-notes. The latter function of the Treasury De- 
partment has created considerable interest and some 



88 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

amusement throughout the country; but this reform, by 
which old notes are Uterally washed, dried, and ironed, 
has been estimated to mean a saving to the Government 
of more than $500,000 a year. 

The principal officers of the Treasury Department are 
the Secretary of the Treasury and his three Assistant 
Secretaries, the Comptroller of the Treasury, the Treas- 
urer of the United States, and the Comptroller of the 
Currency. There are also among the important officers 
of the department, the Supervising Architect, the Au- 
ditors for the various departments, the Register of the 
Treasury, the Director of the Mint, and the Commis- 
sioner of Internal Revenue. By the act of Congress 
creating the department, the Secretary of the Treasury 
is charged with the management of the national finances. 
It is his business to prepare plans for the realization of 
revenue and for the maintenance of the public credit. 
He superintends the collection of the revenue, and 
directs the forms of keeping and rendering public ac- 
counts; grants warrants for all moneys drawn from the 
Treasury in pursuance of appropriations, and for the 
payment of moneys into the Treasury, and in the form 
I have indicated above submits annually to Congress 
estimates of the probable revenues and disbursements 
of the Government. The work of the department, there- 
fore, consists principally in collecting and disbursing 
money. It also, through the Mint and the Bureau of 
Engraving and Printing, issues the coin and notes which 
are the legal medium of exchange and are commonly 
called " money." 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 89 

The revenues of the Government are derived chiefly 
from the customs duties on articles imported into the 
United States, and from the taxes upon spirits, tobacco, 
oleomargarine, etc., known as internal revenue. For 
the collection of these two sources of revenue, the United 
States is divided into territorial districts. There are a 
certain number of internal-revenue districts and a cer- 
tain number of ports of entry through which goods may 
be brought into the United States, and where, through 
the collectors of the port, the customs duties may be 
paid. The Treasury Department, therefore, has a type 
of territorial organization, and in this particular it re- 
sembles the Department of Justice, which divides the 
United States into federal districts for the purpose of 
administering the laws of the United States. At the 
present time the War Department has a very meager 
territorial organization. In time I believe that the 
United States will be divided into military districts re- 
sembling those of the corps districts in Germany and 
other nations that maintain an adequate military es- 
tablishment, but at the present time it is to be noted 
that the Treasury Department and the Department of 
Justice are the only two departments that have divided 
the United States into districts for the practical pur- 
pose of administration. 

There are three Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury. 
All three of these are in charge of various avenues of 
income and disbursement. The Assistant Secretary in 
charge of customs, controls all matters pertaining to 
the customs service. Another Assistant Secretary is in 



90 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

charge of certain fiscal bureaus and has supervision of 
all matters relating to the Bureau of the Mint, the 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Office of the 
Treasurer of the United States, the Office of the Comp- 
troller of the Currency, the Office of the Comptroller of 
the Treasury, the Auditors of the several departments, 
the Register of the Treasury, the Secret-Service Divi- 
sion, the Division of Public Moneys, the Division of 
Loans and Currency, the Division of Bookkeeping and 
Warrants, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Divi- 
sion of Printing and Stationery, the Division of Mail 
and Files, and the Office of the Disbursing Clerk. The 
remaining Assistant Secretary is in charge of certain 
miscellaneous divisions of the Department and super- 
vises matters relating to the public health service, the 
Supervising Architect, the selection of sites for public 
buildings, the revenue-cutter service, life-saving serv- 
ice (the last two were consolidated, January 28, 1915, 
as the Coast Guard), appointments, and the bond divi- 
sion. If we consider the matters coming under the direc- 
tion of each of the Secretaries, we shall gain a general 
understanding of the functions of the Department. 

Since the foundation of the Government the question 
of the tariff has been one of the most important ques- 
tions of national policy. The necessity for a central 
government became apparent after the Revolution pri- 
marily for a proper treatment of customs duties, and 
such has been the history of the confederation of many 
nations. The regulations upon which goods may be im- 
ported and exported from one State into another affect 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 91 

most vitally the business of each of these communities, 
and after the Revolution there existed a condition 
in which one of the former colonies of Great Britain 
was attempting to exact customs duties from another 
of its fellow colonies. The collection of revenue by cus- 
toms duties is what is called indirect taxation, and 
has usually been considered the least painful method 
of raising revenue for the maintenance of a govern- 
ment. At present the nation is in the midst of the 
uncertainties which attend the recent revision of the 
tariff, and upon the question of the fundamental prin- 
ciples which underlie the imposition of customs duties 
the people of the United States have always been di- 
vided. It is without the scope of this book to go into 
questions of the relative merits of high or low protec- 
tion to American industries. The tariff law which has 
recently been adopted by Congress was formulated by 
the President, with the advice of his Secretary of the 
Treasury and the leaders of his party in Congress, to 
meet the demands of the successful party in the last 
national election. The tariff legislation itself is, there- 
fore, a matter of great executive concern, and the part 
that President Wilson has played in the present tariff 
legislation shows in a most marked degree the powerful 
position of the President under the present party sys- 
tem of government. It is a matter of great interest to 
note the change in this particular since 1884, when Pres- 
ident Wilson published his book "Congressional Gov- 
ernment." In that book the President said: "The mem- 
bers of the Cabinet have the privilege of advising him 



92 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

[the President] as to matters in most of which he has no 
final action without the concurrence of the Senate, but 
the gist of all policy is decided by the legislative and 
not the executive will." 

In 1884, before the repeal of the Tenure-of-Office 
Acts, Congress was the dominating element in the Na- 
tional Government. To-day the President is the domi- 
nating influence in the policies of the nation. President 
Wilson foresaw this when in 1900 he wrote the pre- 
face to the fifteenth edition of " Congressional Govern- 
ment," in which, commenting on the increased powers 
of the Executive caused by the Spanish War, he said: 
"It may be that the new leadership of the Executive, 
inasmuch as it is likely to last, will have a very far- 
reaching effect upon our whole method of government. 
It may give the heads of the executive departments a 
new influence upon the action of Congress. It may 
bring about as a consequence an integration which will 
substitute statesmanship for government by mass 
meetings." 

As to the actual collection of customs, it is only neces- 
sary to say that under the present tariff almost every- 
thing that is imported into the United States must pay 
a tax and that the Treasury Department collects this 
tax. For this purpose at each port of entry of the 
United States there exists a complicated organization, 
the collector of customs, appraisers, surveyors, special 
agents, customs agents, and vessels of the revenue- 
cutter service, which see to it that illicit importation of 
goods is prevented. 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 93 

The second great source of national income is that 
from the internal revenue. The tax upon the net income 
of corporations is the smaller source of this revenue. 
The larger part of the income of the Government from 
this source comes from the tax upon all alcoholic pro- 
ductions, tobacco, and oleomargarine. Every distillery 
in the United States has attached to it revenue officers 
of the Government, who watch carefully all the proc- 
esses of production, and see to it that each barrel of 
whiskey or keg of beer pays its tax to the United States. 
The illicit distilleries in the mountains of Tennessee and 
elsewhere have been the subject of novels and are famil- 
iar subjects to the general reader. A large part of the 
activities of the officers, who come under the direction 
of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, is devoted to 
the collection of the tax on oleomargarine. This is an 
absurd tax and it is to be hoped that in time Congress 
will repeal it. When it was first discovered that there 
could be made from the fats of animals a very excellent 
substitute for butter, great opposition to the sale of 
the so-called "oleomargarine" arose on the part of the 
dairymen and the heavy tax upon its sale was imposed. 
At the present time the Government imposes a tax of 
10 cents per pound on all artificially colored oleomar- 
garine, and a tax of one quarter cent per pound on 
oleomargarine in its natural white or yellow state, not 
made yellow like butter by the addition of artificial 
coloration. Anybody, with an old tin can and some hot 
water and a dark room in a back cellar, can manufac- 
ture illicitly what is sometimes called "moonshine but- 



94 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

ter," and thus defraud the Government out of nine and 
three-quarters cents a pound. The temptation to do 
this and the ease with which it can be done is a constant 
menace to honest dealers in oleomargarine, and it is to 
be hoped that the laws relating to this form of internal 
revenue will be modified. In the above manner were 
obtained most of the revenues of the Government be- 
fore the passage of the act imposing a tax on personal 
incomes above certain amounts. It is too early yet to 
discuss the results of this new tax. ^ 

All expenditures are under the direction of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury. The Comptroller of the Treasury 
and the various auditors of the department supervise 
these expenditures. The Comptroller of the Treasury 
prescribes the forms of keeping and rendering all pub- 
lic moneys except those relating to the postal revenues. 
Certain officers of the Government are bonded as dis- 
bursing officers, and only disbursing officers can draw 
warrants upon the Treasurer of the United States and 
expend its funds. Upon the application of disbursing 
officers, the head of any executive department, or other 
independent establishment not under any of the execu- 
tive departments, the Comptroller of the Treasury is 
required to render his advance decision upon any ques- 
tion involving the payment to be made by them or under 
them, which decision, when rendered, governs the Audi- 
tor and the Comptroller in the settlement of the ac- 
count involving that payment. There are Auditors for 
the Treasury Department, for the War Department, 
for the Interior Department, for the Navy Depart- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 95 

ment, for the Post-OfEce Department, and one for the 
"State and Other Departments," whose duty is to re- 
ceive and settle all accounts for the departments under 
their direction. 

The Treasurer of the United States is charged with 
the receipt and disbursements of all pubhc moneys that 
may be deposited in the Treasury at Washington or 
in the various subtreasuries in New York and various 
other large cities, and in the national-bank depositories, 
and in addition has charge of the actual custody of the 
moneys in the Treasury. The Comptroller of the Cur- 
rency has supervision of the national banks: their or- 
ganization and examination, and the preparation, issue, 
and redemption of their notes which form a large por- 
tion of the circulation of the United States. There has 
just been enacted by Congress a bill for the reformation 
of the currency, which provides for a new system of 
government of the national banks of the country. With 
the exception of immediate and adequate National De- 
fense, this and the recent tariff legislation form the most 
important questions at present before the Government 
for solution, but it is too special a subject for considera- 
tion in a book of this nature. 

From the above it will be seen that the power of the 
Secretary of the Treasury is very great. On June 30, 
1912, the available balance in the general fund of the 
United States Treasury was $167,152,478.99. The work- 
ing balance in the vaults of the Treasury at this time 
was over $98,000,000. The Secretary of the Treasury 
has charge of the disposition of these funds, and what 



96 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

disposition of them he authorizes to be made is of the 
utmost importance to the communities in which he se- 
lects depositories and to the country at large. At the 
close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, there were 
in actual operation 7394 national banks with an author- 
ized capital of $1,040,545,435. Its relation to this enor- 
mous aggregation of capital whose activities reach into 
every community of the United States is another source 
of power for the Treasury Department. It is a most in- 
teresting commentary, as I have already pointed out in 
a previous chapter, upon the wisdom of the founders of 
the Grovernment that the administration of the national 
resources has been since its institution honest and effi- 
cient. 

According to the theories of some prominent "states- 
men" of to-day, a government does not really need an 
army and navy to preserve it, and although a police 
department is convenient, it is not a necessity of gov- 
ernment. There has never, however, been any question 
that, in addition to a treasury and a department for 
dealing with its neighbors, a government must have as 
an essential to its existence a proper "Home Affairs 
Department." This the United States has in the De- 
partment of the Interior, which we will now consider. 
President Lowell, of Harvard University, writing of the 
executive departments in the Government of England, 
says: "The Home Office is a kind of residuary legatee. 
It is entrusted with all the work of the secretariat that 
has not been especially assigned to the remaining Sec- 
retaries of State, or to the other administrative depart- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 97 

merits. Its duties are, therefore, of a somewhat mis- 
cellaneous character." ^ These observations apply with 
equal force to our Department of the Interior. 

In France ministerial portfolios are created by execu- 
tive decree and from time to time their number has 
varied. In 1875 there were nine, in 1879 there were ten, 
in 1887 there were eleven, and to-day there are twelve. 
In the order in which these rank, they are as follows: 
(1) Interior; (2) Finance; (3) War; (4) Justice and Pub- 
lic Worship; (5) Marine; (6) Colonies; (7) Pubhc In- 
struction; (8) Foreign Affairs; (9) Commerce; (10) 
Agriculture; (11) Public Works and Posts, Telegraphs 
and Telephones; and (12) Labor. There are seven ex- 
ecutive departments in the Government of Switzerland: 
(1) Foreign Affairs; (2) Interior; (3) Justice and PoUce; 
(4) Military Affairs; (5) Imposts and Finance; (6) Posts 
and Railways; (7) Commerce, Industry and Agricul- 
ture. ^ There are to-day in the United States ten execu- 
tive departments: (1) State; (2) Treasury; (3) War; 
(4) Justice; (5) Post-Office; (6) Navy; (7) Interior; (8) 
Agriculture; (9) Commerce; and (10) Labor. It is im- 
possible to make an accurate comparison of the divi- 
sion of the executive departments in these three Repub- 
lics, since each has peculiar and individual necessities 
which require different methods of treatment. The ex- 
ecutive departments, however, correspond in a gen- 
eral way. Our Department of State, which is really a 
Department of Foreign Affairs, is the equivalent of 

1 A. Lawrence Lowell, The Government of England, vol. I, p. 105. 

2 Frederic Austin Ogg, The Governments of Europe, pp. 312, 424. 



98 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

departments in France and Switzerland. Our Depart- 
ment of the Treasury, in France goes under the name 
of "Finance," and in Switzerland, "Imposts and Fi- 
nance." Our Department of War, in France bears the 
same name, while in Switzerland it is called, "Military- 
Affairs." Our Department of Justice parallels "Justice 
and Public Worship" in France and "Justice and Po- 
lice" in Switzerland. In France, the Department of 
Public Works and Posts, Telegraph and Telephone 
deals with a greater variety of matters than our Post- 
Office, as also does the Swiss Department of Posts and 
Railroads. Switzerland, having no means of naviga- 
tion, has no such department as our Navy Department 
and the French Ministry of Marine. Each of the three 
Republics has an Interior Department, but these de- 
partments deal with rather different matters. Exclu- 
sive of these Interior Departments or Ministries, we 
have noted six departments or ministries in France and 
five in Switzerland. In addition to the Interior Depart- 
ment, the United States has the three additional De- 
partments of Agriculture, of Commerce, and of Labor. 
In addition to the Interior Department, France has the 
five additional Departments of Agriculture, of Com- 
merce, of Labor, of Colonies, and of Public Instruction. 
Of these five departments, the first three parallel our 
departments of similar names. We have colonies, but 
no separate Department of Colonies, such matters com- 
ing under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War. We 
have a Bureau of Education in the Interior Depart- 
ment, but no Ministry or Department of Public Wor- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 99 

ship. Besides the Interior Department and the other 
five enumerated departments, Switzerland has one 
more, the Department of Commercial Industry and 
Agriculture. It will be seen that the executive depart- 
ments of the three Republics deal with practically the 
same matters, and the matters dealt with by the Execu- 
tive and the names applied to the departments, in most 
governments, are practically the same. In 1849, the 
United States had but six departments. State or For- 
eign Affairs, Treasury, War, Navy, Justice, and Post- 
OfRce. Each of these departments dealt primarily with 
the matters indicated by its name, but each depart- 
ment had charge of other executive matters of the Gov- 
ernment. In 1849 the Interior Department was cre- 
ated to take care of the miscellaneous matters which 
did not properly belong to Foreign Affairs, Finance, 
Military Affairs, Justice, or Posts. Since the creation of 
the Department of the Interior, there have been created 
the Departments of Agriculture, of Commerce, and of 
Labor; but when we take up these departments, it will 
be seen that these three, together with the Department 
of the Interior, all deal with home affairs other than 
those dealt with specifically by the departments in exist- 
ence in 1849, and that the last four departments cre- 
ated in the Federal Executive deal with home affairs 
which are parceled out among these departments in no 
very scientific or orderly manner. The Departments of 
Agriculture, of Commerce, and of Labor, in the main 
exercise functions which were given to the Depart- 
ment of the Interior when it was created, and it will 



100 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

be interesting to consider, a little more fully than we 
have previously done, the creation of the Department 
of the Interior. 

Soon after the close of the Mexican War, and as an 
outcome of the accession of territory resulting from that 
war, as well as of the great increase in population, 
wealth, and business throughout the country, a move- 
ment was started having in view the estabhshment of a 
new executive department, to be known as the " Home 
Department," which should take over the various bu- 
reaus and offices transacting public business relating 
to domestic affairs, such as patents, pensions, Indian 
affairs, and the Census. At that time the work pertain- 
ing to these offices was distributed among various de- 
partments: The Patent Office was under the supervi- 
sion of the Secretary of State; the Land Office and the 
Census were under the Secretary of the Treasury; In- 
dian affairs were controlled by the Secretary of War; 
and pensions were granted under the supervision of the 
Secretaries of War and the Navy. 

In his annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 
1848, R. J. Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury, in- 
vited attention to the enormous amount of work de- 
volved upon the head of that department, and the di- 
verse nature of the duties performed by him, some of 
which had no connection with commerce or the public 
finances. He also pointed out that the State Depart- 
ment had no proper connection with the work of the 
Patent Office, and that Indian affairs and applications 
for pensions could be better handled elsewhere than in 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 101 

the War and Navy Departments. He accordingly re- 
commended that a new department be established, and 
that all the offices above named be placed under such 
new department. 

The matter was subsequently taken up by Congress; 
and on February 12, 1849, the Committee on Agricul- 
ture of the House submitted a report endorsing the views 
of the Secretary of the Treasury, together with a bill 
for the creation of a new department, to be known as 
the "Home Department," or "Department of the In- 
terior." 

The committee stated that the immediate considera- 
tions which urged the establishment of the new depart- 
ment were the mischiefs, losses, and dangers resulting 
from the existing irrational and ruinous distribution of 
executive powers and duties. They added, however, 
that there were broader considerations of public policy 
dictating the creation of such a department. Since the 
establishment of the Federal Government sixty years 
before, they said, some $700,000,000 had been expended 
for purposes of military aggression or defense; and the 
average expenditure for the War and Navy Depart- 
ments was then twelve or fourteen millions of dollars. 
The whole amount of expenditure during the same 
period for the promotion of the arts of peace, the 
development of agriculture and of the mechanical sci- 
ences, and for the facilitation of internal intercourse 
and trade, the support of education and the diffusion 
of knowledge, did not exceed one million dollars. The 
report continued: "The general fact remains unaf- 



102 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

fected, that war and preparations for war have been 
practically regarded as the chief duty and end of this 
Government, while the arts of peace and production, 
whereby nations are subsisted, civilization advanced, 
and happiness secured, have been esteemed unworthy 
the attention, or foreign to the objects, of this Gov- 
ernment. It seems to us that this should not always 
continue, but that we should, as a wise people, reor- 
ganize the Government, so far as to fulfill these duties 
also, which are suggested by the nature, aspiration, 
and wants of our race, as psychic, moral, and intel- 
lectual beings; that it should do something towards 
protecting the people against those internal enemies, 
ignorance, destitution, and vice, as well as against those 
foreign foes who may invade, or who it is apprehended 
may assail us." In pursuance of the foregoing recom- 
mendation. Congress passed the act approved March 
3, 1849,1 entitled "An Act to estabhsh the Home De- 
partment," which I have discussed in Chapter III. 

To-day the Department of the Interior deals with 
five totally different classes of matters. The General 
Land Office, Reclamation Service, Geological Survey, 
and Bureau of Mines all relate to the public lands of 
the United States and would seem to be very properly 
in a department called the "Interior." The other 
things dealt with by the department are education, 
Indian affairs, patents, and pensions. When we examine 
the Department of Agriculture, we shall find that, in 
addition to the bureaus that deal with purely agricul- 
» 9 U.S. Stat. L. 395. 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 103 

tural matters, there is an office of Public Roads, whose 
duty it is to study road-building in connection with 
state highway officials and to conduct a one-year post- 
graduate course in highway engineering. This office 
has no more to do with agriculture than it has with 
labor, and it would seem properly to belong in the Bu- 
reau of Education, which, until a Department of Edu- 
cation is created, is in the Interior Department. There 
is also in the Department of Agriculture the Forest 
Service, and it would seem that this service has more to 
do with the lands held by the United States than it has 
to do with agriculture and so should belong in the 
Interior Department. The Forest Service has also an 
educational side which would seem to furnish an addi- 
tional reason for its being placed in the Interior Depart- 
ment, which conducts the Bureau of Education. When 
we examine the Department of Commerce we shall see 
that, in addition to its functions as to matters relating 
primarily to commerce, under it the Bureau of the Cen- 
sus is a subdivision. Theoretically it would seem that 
the Bureau of the Census deals primarily with the 
personnel of American citizens and that the Census 
might just as well be in the Department of the Interior 
or in the Department of Labor. The Department of 
the Interior was created to attend to the miscellaneous 
home affairs of the United States. There was no partic- 
ular theory of the separation of executive functions con- 
sidered when it was created, nor have such principles 
been considered in the creation of the subsequent De- 
partments of Agriculture, of Commerce, and of Labor. 



104 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

The Department of the Interior grew too large and part 
of it was broken off to form the Department of Agri- 
culture. It continued to grow and the Department of 
Commerce and Labor was created. Labor insisted on 
recognition in a department of its own and the Depart- 
ment of Labor was created. When the next executive 
department of the Government is created, the Depart- 
ments of the Interior, of Agriculture, of Commerce, and 
of Labor should all be reorganized and the former 
Departments of State, Treasury, and War should be 
stripped of the matters which do not properly belong to 
them. The Department of Justice as at present organ- 
ized deals solely with matters properly in the law de- 
partment of the Government. 

A statement of the functions of the Department of 
the Interior must be either a brief description of its 
duties as to public lands, education, Indian affairs, 
patents, and pensions, or it must be a very detailed 
description of these entirely diverse matters. Any full 
consideration of the history of the dealings of the na- 
tion with the Indians, or any full description of the pub- 
lic lands held at present by the United States, or any 
technical discussion of patents is entirely without the 
scope of this book. The Department of the Interior to- 
day conducts its work through the General Land Office, 
the Indian Office, the Bureau of Pensions, the Patent 
Office, the Bureau of Education, the Geological Sur- 
vey, the Reclamation Service, and the Bureau of Mines. 
Before briefly considering the matters performed by 
these subdivisions of the department, it will be of inter- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 105 

est to note that the Department of Labor had its origin 
in the Bureau of Labor created in the Department of 
the Interior in 1884, and that there was once under the 
direction of the Secretary of the Interior a Commis- 
sioner of Railroads. The Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission was formerly also under his supervision, and 
the Secretary of the Interior once also had charge of 
the suppression of the slave trade. The department 
was created to handle all existing miscellaneous home 
affairs. 

The policy of the new department was in harmony 
with the purpose of Congress in creating it, and in the 
very first annual report of the Secretary of the Interior, 
Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, submitted to the President, 
December 3, 1849, a recommendation for the organiza- 
tion of a separate Bureau of Agriculture, which should 
carry out, on an enlarged and systematic scale, the 
work hitherto performed by an agricultural division 
in the Patent Office. The Secretary also urged in this 
report the construction of a highway or a railroad to 
the Pacific Ocean. A Bureau of Agriculture was estab- 
lished, but it grew later into the Department of Agri- 
culture. The work of the Department of the Interior 
in regard to railroads, however, deserves more than 
passing mention. 

By the original act incorporating the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company, approved July 1, 1862,^ the Sec- 
retary of the Interior was authorized to nominate five 
of the incorporators; and the company was required to 
1 12 U.S. Stat. L. 489. 



106 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

file its acceptance of the conditions of the act in the 
Interior Department. Various other duties with respect 
to the Pacific Railroads were imposed upon the Sec- 
retary from time to time; and he was, generally speak- 
ing, made the medium of carrying out the policy of the 
President with regard to such roads, with the excep- 
tion, of course, of duties pertaining to the indebtedness 
of the roads to the United States, which were per- 
formed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

The Federal Executive, through the Interior Depart- 
ment, exercised very important functions in reference 
to the building of the great transcontinental railroads. 
At the present time, however, the Department of the 
Interior has nothing to do with these roads. I shall 
later consider the possibility of future executive super- 
vision of the railways of the nation. To encourage the 
building of these roads, the United States granted to 
the railroads enormous tracts of its public lands, and 
to-day the Department of the Interior, through the 
General Land Office, has charge of all that remains of 
the enormous territory that originally belonged to the 
Federal Government. 

As I have already stated, the present functions of the 
Department of the Interior have to do with lands, 
education, Indians, pensions, and patents. Let us first 
consider the functions of the department in reference 
to the government lands. The four subdivisions of the 
department, the General Land Office, the Reclamation 
Service, the Geological Survey, and the Bureau of 
Mines, all deal with these functions, and we shall con- 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 107 

sider them together, although they are not grouped 
together in the official list of the subdivisions of the 
department. The General Land Office was organized as 
a Bureau of the Treasury Department under Act of 
May 25, 1812, ^ and became a Bureau of the Interior 
Department when the latter was created. The Geolog- 
ical Survey was organized as a Bureau of the Interior 
Department under Act of March 3, 1879, ^ while the 
Reclamation Service was not provided for until June 
17, 1902.^ The Bureau of Mines was provided for May 
16, 1910.^ The General Land Office is in charge of 
a commissioner, while the Geological Survey and the 
Reclamation Commission and the Bureau of Mines 
are in charge of directors. Each of these four divisions 
of the Interior Department has its separate organiza- 
tion and is only under the general direction of the Sec- 
retary of the Interior. The General Land Office not 
only has its own chief clerk, but has its own corps of 
law clerks and examiners, and is itself divided into 
twelve divisions, each of which is in charge of a chief of 
division. So, too, the Geological Survey has its own 
chief clerk and its various administrative branches. 
The Reclamation Service has its own chief clerk, chief 
engineer, and chief counsel as well as a corps of assist- 
ants, while the Bureau of Mines is divided into eleven 
sections, each in charge of a chief of section. One of these 
sections is the legal department. The General Land 
Office has entire charge of the survey, management, 

1 2 U.S. Stat. L. 716. 2 20 U.S. Stat. L. 394. 

» 32 U.S. Stat. L. 388. ^ 38 U.S. Stat. L. 369. 



108 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

and disposition of public lands, with all the various 
matters relating to them, such as the adjudication of 
conflicting claims, the issuance of patents for lands, 
granting of railroad rights of way, and other easements; 
the Geological Survey is charged with classification of 
the public lands and the examination of the geological 
structures, mineral resources, and mineral products of 
the national domain. It has been and still is engaged 
in making a geological map of the United States involv- 
ing both topographic and geologic surveys, and every 
year it collects its statistics of mineral productions and 
makes investigations as to surface and underground 
waters. The Reclamation Service is charged with the 
survey, construction, and operation of the irrigation 
works in arid States, while the Bureau of Mines inves- 
tigates methods of mining, the treatment of ores, the 
use of explosives, and other matters relating to mining. 
The bureau also tests and analyzes coals, ores, and other 
mineral fuel substances for the use of the United States. 
One of the most important duties of the bureau is in 
relation to the safety of miners, appliances for the pre- 
vention of accidents, and improvements of conditions 
under which mining operations are carried on. In this 
last function, the Department of the Interior through 
the Bureau of Mines touches very closely the sort of 
work one would expect to be done by the Department 
of Labor. 

Since the Government was founded, about 1,835,- 
000,000 acres of land have come into the control of the 
United States, and all of this has been disposed of in 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 109 

various ways except about 700,000,000 acres. ^ By the 
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the territory from the 
Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains became part 
of the United States, and all but a very small portion 
of this territory became the absolute property of the 
Government. The Oregon Territory and the purchase 
of Florida also brought to the United States added land 
assets. The public domain was further augmented as a 
result of the Mexican War, and the purchase of Alaska 
in 1867 brought another enormous and valuable terri- 
tory into the possession of the Government. The greater 
part of the pubHc domain of which the Government has 
disposed has been sold to individual settlers at low rates 
for the purpose of developing the country. Large grants 
have been made to various of the States for educational 
purposes and for internal improvements. Ten million 
acres were given to the States for agricultural college 
properties in 1862, and since 1860 such great trans- 
continental railroads as the Northern Pacific, Union 
Pacific, and Central Pacific were granted large tracts of 
land as an aid to the building of these railroads. The 
Government is still disposing of land under the law 
which provides for homestead entries by actual settlers. 
The report of the Secretary of the Interior shows that 
the total cash receipts from sales of public land for 
the fiscal year 1914 were $4,256,102.96. Oil lands, coal 
lands, forest lands, water rights, timber lands, all give 
rise to most important questions concerning the proper 
administration of the public domain, and the Secretary 
^ Frederic J. Haskin, The American Government, p. 79. 



110 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

of the Interior in his report for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1914, says, "Contrary to the general belief, the 
business of the Land Department is increasing, al- 
though the monies received from pubHc land sources 
are decreasing." By the Act of March 1, 1872, Congress 
inaugurated the policy of setting aside tracts of land as 
national parks. The Yellowstone National Park was 
the first of these national reserves. Since the creation of 
the Yellowstone Park, eleven different parks in various 
parts of the country have been created. Alaska, rich 
in mineral and other resources, presents at the present 
time most important questions for solution by the De- 
partment of the Interior. There has been no railroad 
construction in Alaska for a number of years, and on 
March 12, 1914, Congress passed a law providing for the 
construction of a system of railroads into the interior of 
Alaska. The handling of the public lands of the Gov- 
ernment is a matter to which the general public has 
given but little consideration, and it is only in recent 
years that a realization of the enormous assets still pos- 
sessed by the Government has been brought home to 
the American people. 

The Patent Office, Bureau of Education, Office of 
Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Pensions remain to be 
considered. Article I, section 8, of the Constitution 
gave to Congress the power to promote the progress of 
science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to 
authors and inventors the exclusive right to their re- 
spective writings and discoveries. In the beginning of 
the Government, patents were granted by a board, of 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 111 

which the Secretary of War and the Attorney-General 
were members, and later the granting of patents de- 
volved upon the Secretary of State and the Attorney- 
General. In 1836 a Bureau of the State Department 
was established having entire charge of patents, and on 
the creation of the Department of the Interior, in 1849, 
the Patent Office was transferred to it. Patents are 
granted to the original inventor and secure to him the 
exclusive right to his invention for a term of years. The 
Patent Office is in charge of the Commissioner of Pat- 
ents and two assistant commissioners. It employs an 
enormous force of examiners and clerks and occupies 
the whole of a huge building for its purposes. The work 
of the office is highly technical, and the "Congressional 
Directory" for December, 1914, gives a list of forty- 
four principal examiners having charge of applications 
for patents relating to acoustics, artesian wells, buckles, 
buttons, buildings, hardware, carriages, chemistry, elec- 
tricity, and a long list including all matters in which 
any one could possibly claim an invention. It is stated 
that the civilized nations of the earth have issued three 
million patents, and that more than one milHon of these 
have been issued by the American Patent Office. The 
present Patent Office Building, although it occupies 
several square city blocks in Washington, is totally in- 
adequate for its purposes, and the work of this office 
is in a marked degree indicative of the mechanical and 
industrial achievements of the American people. Dur- 
ing the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, the total num- 
ber of applications for patents was 81,539, the greatest 



112 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

number received during any year in the history of the 
Patent Office. The total receipts of the office for that 
year were $2,069,988.95. ^ 

One sometimes finds a great deal of unintentional 
humor in the official reports and directories of the Gov- 
ernment. The official duties of the Commissioner of 
Education, as set forth in the "Congressional Direc- 
tory" of December, 1914, are as follows: "The Com- 
missioner of Education collects statistics and general 
information showing the condition and progress of edu- 
cation, issues an annual report in two volumes, a bulle- 
tin in several numbers annually, and miscellaneous 
publications; has charge of the schools for the educa- 
tion of native children in Alaska, supervises the rein- 
deer industry in Alaska, and administers the endow- 
ment fund for the support of colleges for the benefit of 
agriculture and mechanic arts." ^ Professor Fairlie 
says, "The bureau has collected one of the most valu- 
able pedagogical libraries in the world and has been 
called a sort of educational clearing-house." ^ The issu- 
ing of an annual report in two volumes, a bulletin in 
several numbers, and the supervision of the reindeer 
industry in Alaska by no means give an adequate under- 
standing of the important work rendered by the Com- 
missioner of Education. Although the National Gov- 
ernment under the Constitution is not authorized to 

1 Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 191^, p. 52. 

2 Congressional Directory, December 14, 1914. 

^ John A. Fairlie, The National Administration of the United 
States, p. 214. 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 113 

establish a general system of education, it takes a most 
important part in educational matters throughout the 
country, and there are numerous educational activities 
of the Government which should be brought under the 
direction of the Commissioner. During the year 1914 
the bureau through its specialists studied such impor- 
tant matters as recent developments in English uni- 
versities, preparation of teachers in secondary schools 
in Germany, France, and Great Britain, and exercised 
a most salutary influence throughout the country. 
Representatives of the bureau inspected thirty-five 
American colleges and universities, attended fifteen con- 
ferences on higher education in different parts of the 
country, worked out plans for the tabulation of college 
curricula, and otherwise promoted education. All of 
this in addition to conducting the Alaska reindeer serv- 
ice! 

As a part of his report on the Bureau of Education, 
the Secretary of the Interior states: " On June 30, 1913, 
there were in Alaska 47,266 reindeer distributed among 
sixty-two herds. The increase for the year was twenty- 
three per cent, notwithstanding the fact that nearly 
five thousand reindeer were killed for their meat and 
skin. The total income of the natives from the reindeer 
industry during the year, exclusive of meat and hides 
used for the natives themselves, was $66,966.00." ^ 

Upon reading this, I wrote to the Secretary of the 
Interior as follows: "I am working on a little book on 
the executive departments, and I am venturing to ask 
1 Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 19H, p. 56. 



114 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

you if you could advise me how it happens that the 
Bureau of Education has charge of the Alaska reindeer 
service. Such duties seem to me quite foreign to the 
bureau, and as illustrative of the heterogeneous func- 
tions of the Department of the Interior. There may, 
however, be some reason for the association of the rein- 
deer service with the Department of Education. If 
there is, I should be greatly obliged for information on 
this subject." 

I very promptly received the following explanation 
from the Chief of the Alaska Division: — 

"The Alaska reindeer service is an integral part of 
the educational system of the Bureau of Education for 
northern and western Alaska. The district superin- 
tendents of schools are also the superintendents of the 
reindeer service; the teachers in charge of the United 
States public schools in the regions affected by the rein- 
deer industry are ex-ofido local superintendents of the 
reindeer herds in the vicinity of their schools. The 
reindeer service is a system of industrial education of 
the most practical kind, which, in the course of a sin- 
gle generation, has elevated the Eskimos in the coastal 
regions of western Alaska, from Point Barrow to the 
Pacific Ocean, from nomadic hunters and fishermen, 
eking out a precarious existence upon fish and game, 
to civilized, thrifty people having in their herds assured 
support for themselves and opportunity to acquire 
wealth by the sale of meat and skins to the white men 
in those regions." 

The Constitution (article I, section 8) provides that 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 115 

Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with 
foreign nations and among the several States, and with 
the Indian tribes. The Constitution makes no further 
reference to the Indians. Washington delivered his 
first inaugural address in the City of New York on 
April 30, 1789. Among the first, if not actually the first 
of the special messages he sent to the Senate referred 
to Indian treaties. On May 25, 1789, he communicated 
with the Senate as follows: "Gentlemen of the Senate, 
In pursuance of the order of the late Congress, treaties 
between the United States and civilized nations of In- 
dians having been negotiated and signed, these treaties, 
with sundry papers respecting them, I now lay before 
you for your consideration and advice, by the hands 
of General Knox, under whose official superintendence 
the business was transacted and who will be ready to 
communicate to you any information on such points 
as may appear to require it." ^ General Knox had 
served throughout the Revolutionary War, was an offi- 
cer of the Society of the Cincinnati, and at that time 
was the Secretary of War, and, although the only refer- 
ence in the Constitution to Indians referred to the regu- 
lation of commerce with the Indian tribes, for nearly 
fifty years after Washington's inauguration, Indian 
affairs were of necessity administered by the military 
authorities. In 1832 the office of Commissioner of In- 
dian affairs was created in the War Department to deal 
with the Government's peaceful relations with the In- 
dians; but until the creation of the Department of the 
^ Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. i, p. 57. 



116 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Interior and the transfer to it of the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, the relations of the Government to the Indians 
were far from peaceful. There have been a number of 
interesting books written on the subject of the Ameri- 
can Indian and something has been written concerning 
the relation of the Government to the Indian; but at 
the present time the Indian problem, although differ- 
ing entirely from what it was at the institution of the 
Government, is one of the most interesting and impor- 
tant questions before the Federal Government, and the 
subject of the relation of the Government to the Indians, 
together with the history of the Indians in this coun- 
try, furnishes a most inviting field for research and a 
most profitable region of investigation for the student 
of history and government. There is an opportunity for 
a most valuable work on this subject. On the 1st of 
July, 1914, the Cherokee Nation ceased to exist. Its 
Senate and House, governor and officers, laws and 
property have disappeared. The members of the Na- 
tion became American citizens, and if the Government 
at the present time has any well-defined policy as to 
the Indians, it is to break up the tribal government and 
fit them for individual citizenship as soon as possible. 
I cannot here go into the history of the Indian or his 
relation to the Government. The relations of the Gov- 
ernment with the Indians are among the most important 
matters with which the Interior Department has to deal, 
and the Interior Department at the present time is the 
most interesting department of the Executive by reason 
of the importance and novelty of the problems which 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 117 

confront it. The Census of 1860 showed 254,300 In- 
dians in the United States. The Census of 1910 shows 
an Indian population of 304,950. These Indians mostly- 
live on government reservations which Secretary of the 
Interior Lane aptly designates as "little more than ex- 
panded and perhaps somewhat idealized orphan asy- 
lums." The importance of the present Indian problem 
may be seen from the fact that at present they have 
lands aggregating 109,150 square miles, or territory 
equal to that of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Kentucky, and Virginia. 
The Department of the Interior estimates these hold- 
ings to be worth $600,000,000. Over two thirds of this 
land is now held as individual farms, the unallotted or 
tribal lands being estimated as worth less than $200,- 
000,000. The "Report of the Secretary of the Interior 
for 1914" says: "If the oil and coal and timber lands 
belonging to the Indians were appraised at their full 
value, and if to this the value of their yieldings and 
personal property were added, it is estimated that the 
Indians would be found to have a wealth approximat- 
ing $900,000,000." In other words, each Indian in the 
United States is at the present time worth on an aver- 
age $3000. In addition to these possessions, the Treas- 
ury of the United States has tribal funds approximat- 
ing $50,000,000, while in the banks throughout the 
nation, the Government has deposited to the credit of 
individual Indians under its control something over 
$18,000,000. The Secretary of the Interior considers 
the Osage Indians as the wealthiest people in the world, 



118 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

and the department estimates the average wealth of 
the Osage Indians at $9579.85. With their land-hold- 
ings and oil and gas royalties, for an average family of 
four the Osages have an annual income of approxi- 
mately $2700, in addition to their income from lands, 
and some families have an income of $12,000 a year.^ 

A Bureau of Pensions was originally under the direc- 
tion of the War Department, ^ and logically it might 
just as well still be under the direction of the War De- 
partment as a part of the Department of the Interior. 
In his first annual address to Congress, on January 8, 
1790, Washington said: "A free people ought not only 
to be armed but disciplined; to which end a uniform and 
well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and 
interest require that they should promote such manu- 
factories as tend to render them independent of others 
for essential, particularly military supplies." ^ I have 
already quoted President Taft as stating, as his opin- 
ion, that the present pensions are largely due to our 
not having an adequate army ready in the past. The 
Secretary of the Interior reported to the President that 
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, the total 
expenditures for pensions had been reduced from $174,- 
171,660.80 in the preceding year to $172,417,546.26.'^ 
At the end of this fiscal year there were on the pension 
roll 785,239 names, a net loss of 35,033 from the total 
of 820,272 on the roll at the beginning of the year; the 

1 Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 191 If, p. 3. 

2 Act of March 2, 1833, 4 U.S. Stat. L. 622. 

2 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. I, p. 65. 
^ Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 191 It, p. 19. 



STATE, TREASURY, INTERIOR 119 

decrease of pensioners for the preceding year was 40,094. 
The actual number of soldiers pensioned for the Revo- 
lutionary War was 52,504. The last pensioned soldier 
of this war died in 1869 and the last pensioned widow 
died in 1906. For the War of 1812, the total number of 
pension certificates issued was about 67,000 and the 
last surviving pensioned soldier of this war died in 
1905. "^ Since the institution of the Government, it is 
estimated that about $4,680,000,000 has been paid for 
pensions, and that of this amount all except about $163,- 
000,000 has been paid on account of Civil War pensions. 
The Bureau of Pensions occupies a huge building de- 
voted exclusively to its purposes in Judiciary Square in 
Washington. On the outside of this building is a deco- 
rative frieze under the eaves running all about the 
building, and upon this frieze, in plaster, a long line of 
troops is ever silently tramping. The Civil War was 
fought for the preservation of the Union. Whatever 
may be one's views as to the amount and kind of pen- 
sions paid, whether one regards this fabulous annual 
expenditure as partly a reward for service and partly 
as a penalty for unpreparedness, or whatever view the 
American citizen may take of these pensions, this 
greatest item of annual expense to the Government 
should cause every citizen of this great nation to ask 
himself the question, whether in the words of Wash- 
ington a free people ought not to be "armed and dis- 
ciplined." The history of the Department of the In- 
terior and of the matters now under its supervision 
^ Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 19H, pp. 48-51. 



120 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

gives one the best idea of the miraculous development 
of this nation, of its enormous present resources, and 
even in the mind of the most unimaginative should 
awake visions as to the future of this Union. The Civil 
War was fought for the preservation of the Union. The 
constitutional questions arising from that war are set- 
tled once and for all. The Department of the Interior 
deals with the greatest material resources of the nation. 
Through the Bureau of Pensions it makes the greatest 
single item of national expenditure, and it performs 
some of the most important functions of the Federal 
Executive in securing to the people of these United 
States the "more perfect Union" sought by the Consti- 
tution. 



Note. — Because of the European War, oertain temporary 
changes have been made. Third Assistant Secretary of State 
Phillips advises me that a separate Mexican Division was created 
July 28, 1915, not in the nature of a permanent division, but to 
meet the exigencies of the present situation. A Bureau of War 
Risk Insurance in the Treasury Department has also been created. 
Its purpose, states Assistant Secretary Peters, is to offer to 
American vessels and cargoes the facilities for war risk insurance 
provided by English and continental governments after the out- 
break of the war. 



CHAPTER VIII 

FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS IN 
"insuring DOMESTIC TRANQUILLITY" 

THE DEPARTMENTS OF WAR, THE NAVY, AND JUSTICE 

The Constitution of the United States (article II, 
clause 2) says that the President shall be the Com- 
mander-in-chief of the army and navy. The Secretary of 
War, the third ranking member of the Cabinet, is the 
executive officer through whom the President exercises 
these functions on land in peace and in war, but the War 
Department has important administrative duties con- 
cerning the Government of the United States other than 
the national defense. Expenditures of the department 
show its various functions. 

For the fiscal year 1913 the estimated disbursements 
for the War Department were $158,000,000. (This did 
not include $165,000,000 for pensions for the Civil and 
other wars.) For the year July 1, 1911, to June 30, 
1912, of the total disbursement of $147,000,000, the 
appropriations amounted to about $2,000,000 for the 
maintenance of the civil establishment of the War 
Department, including such matters as the salaries in 
the office of the Secretary of War and other officials in 
Washington and the current expenses of the depart- 
ment. There was appropriated about $91,500,000 for 
the support of the army proper, a little over $1,000,000 
for the Military Academy at West Point, and nearly 



122 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

$4,000,000 for the support of the organized militia. Of 
the above $147,000,000 for the War Department in 
1912, $40,000,000 was appropriated for various public 
works of the United States. Of this amount over $6,- 
000,000 was for fortifications, arsenals, and military- 
posts, while the balance was chiefly appropriated for 
work upon the rivers and harbors of the United States 
under the direction of the War Department. There 
were also over $8,000,000 of insular appropriations, 
and so, out of the total $147,000,000 appropriated for 
the year ending 1912, it will be seen that a considerable 
part was expended for non-military purposes. ^ But 
the purely military expenditures of the United States 
Government amounted to a very large sum, and mat- 
ters relating to the military forces of the Government 
are the chief concern of the War Department, although 
the duties of the Secretary of War include most impor- 
tant domestic matters and the entire supervision of the 
insular possessions of the United States. We will con- 
sider the general functions of the department and its 
general organization, before discussing its purely war 
duties. 

The work of the department can be divided into four 
classes: The army, including the National Guard; the 
Engineering Department, supervising river and harbor 
improvements throughout the United States; the Pan- 
ama Canal; the general supervision of the Philippine 
Islands, Porto Rico, and other insular possessions. The 
Secretary of War, as head of the department, is charged 
1 Annual Report of the Secretary of War for 1912. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 123 

with the supervision of all things relating to the above 
matters, and in his duties he is aided by one Assistant 
Secretary of War, who is authorized to decide all cases 
except those involving "questions of policy, the estab- 
lishment or reversal of precedents, or matters of special 
or extraordinary importance." 

The Assistant Secretary has particular charge of all 
matters relating to the militia. The construction of the 
Panama Canal, under the direction of the War Depart- 
ment, was successfully carried to a termination under 
the direction of officers of the army. The importance 
of the Panama Canal is impossible of estimation. Its 
opening will create a new epoch in the history of the 
world, but its construction contains for us nothing of 
interest in connection with the executive departments 
of the Government, except that the efficiency of the 
present Panama Canal Commission is a most favorable 
comment upon the character and ability of American 
army officers and the work of the War Department, 
and that to-day the Chief of Staff says we have no ade- 
quate army to defend it. The Philippine Islands are at 
present governed by the Commission to the Philippine 
Islands, with a President and Governor-General and 
the local legislature. The affairs of the Philippine Is- 
lands and of Porto Rico are under the general supervi- 
sion of the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Depart- 
ment. The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors 
in the War Department has charge of numerous internal 
improvements in the United States. The actual amount 
expended under the direction of the Chief of Engineers 



124 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

in connection with the improvements of rivers and 
harbors during the year ending June 30, 1912, was 
$35,719,403.62, and its work included such matters as 
the construction of the Troy Dam, in the State of New 
York, in the Hudson River, for the improvement of the 
waterways in connection with the reconstruction of the 
Erie Canal. The river and harbor work of the department 
is of the very greatest importance to the United States 
and constitutes one of its largest annual expenditures. 

The foregoing are the non-military duties of the War 
Department. Our military affairs are directed through 
various bodies in the department. At the head of them 
is the General Staff Corps, which is the general direct- 
ing power of the army. The General Staff Corps was 
organized under the provisions of the Act of Congress, 
approved February 14, 1903. It is the directing brains 
of the army. It is its duty to prepare plans for the na- 
tional defense and for the mobilization of the military 
forces in time of war; and to study and report upon all 
questions affecting the efficiency of the army. At the 
head of the General Staff is the Chief of Staff, who is 
practically the commanding general of the army, al- 
though in time of peace we have no such offiicer. He 
has supervision of all troops and of all the other de- 
partments which exist for the administration of army 
affairs. The office of the Chief of Staff is the supervising 
military bureau of the War Department. The other 
bureaus and divisions of the department relating to 
military affairs are the Division of Militia Affairs and 
the various military bureaus. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 125 

The Division of Militia Affairs, which is especially 
under the direction of the Assistant Secretary of War, 
has charge of all matters relating to the National Guard 
of the various States, including such matters as arma- 
ment, equipment, discipline, training, education, and 
organization. The United States has in recent years 
assumed the direction of the militia, and since the Span- 
ish War has brought the various state organizations to 
a much higher state of efficiency. Every summer there 
are conducted camps of instruction in which the militia 
and regular army usually participate, and it has been 
the policy of the Government more and more to make 
the militia a first line of support for the army in time 
of war.^ 

Of the various military bureaus, it is unnecessary to 

^ Experts agree that the state militia is not the most effective 
support for the army. Until something better is provided it is all 
we have. Universal, obligatory military service, somewhat after 
the Swiss system, seems to be the only adequate solution of our 
needs, and the chief argument in favor of the "Continental Army" 
plan is that it is a step toward universal service as an adequate 
protection for the Federal Government. Mr. Henry Breckinridge, 
Assistant Secretary of War, has furnished me with the following 
official explanation of the Continental Army: "The Continental 
Army, so-called, is the supplement or reserve of the Regular Army. 
It will consist of 400,000 men that are organized, equipped, officered, 
and subject to instant call. It will be raised by annual increments 
of 133,000 men, — each man to serve with the colors three years, — 
so that after the first three years, it will always have 400,000 men 
in it with the colors." In reference to the recruiting of the Conti- 
nental Army, Secretary Garrison says, "Taking the four hundred 
congressional districts of the country, it would require three hun- 
dred and thirty-three each year from each one." At the present 
time, however, the Continental Army is only a plan and not a part 
of our national defenses. 



126 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

do more than mention their names. There is the Office 
of the Adjutant-General, which has charge of the issu- 
ing of orders, and the Office of the Inspector-General, 
which has charge of the examination of the condition 
of troops and military posts. The Office of the Judge- 
Advocate-General deals with matters of discipline and 
is the law department of the army, as the Office of the 
Surgeon-General deals with the physical welfare of 
the troops. The remaining office of importance, that 
of the Quartermaster-General, is one that has charge 
of the payment, feeding, clothing, and transportation. 
The present Quartermaster Corps is a consolidation of 
the Office of the Quartermaster-General, the Commis- 
sary-General, and the Paymaster-General of the army, 
provided by Act of Congress, August 24, 1912. 

Such are the general functions of the department, 
viewed as a branch of the Federal Executive. The power 
of the department, except as it directs our colonial 
affairs, and the matter of rivers and harbors, has in- 
creased little since its creation. The War Department 
has not developed in any such way as has the Depart- 
ment of Justice, and there is no arm of the Executive 
that to-day requires serious consideration more than 
the War Department. The United States spends more 
money on its army than any other nation in respect to 
what it has to show for it. President Taft, writing in 
1913, said: "So far as our military policy is concerned, 
it would seem as if the maxim that 'the Lord looks after 
children and drunken men' ought to be extended to the 
United States, for by hook or crook, through mistakes 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 127 

of the enemy, or through luck and by the expenditure 
of far greater treasure and many more Hves than were 
necessary, we have generally been successful." ^ He 
also writes: "I have not the comparative figures for the 
cost of the European armies and our own this year, but 
in 1906 this statement which I made as Secretary of War 
was true: 'Our regular army to-day amounts in effec- 
tive force to about 60,000 men, and it costs us in round 
numbers about $72,000,000 to sustain our miUtary es- 
tablishment. France maintains an army on the active 
list of 546,000 men, and it costs her $133,000,000. Ger- 
many maintains an army which has upon its active list 
640,000 men, and it costs her $144,000,000 a year to 
maintain it. In other words, France has an army about 
nine times the size of ours which it costs her substan- 
tially less than twice the sum to maintain, while Ger- 
many has an army more than ten times as large which 
it costs her just about double our sum to maintain.' " ^ 

It is absurd for a nation possessing the vast wealth 
of the United States to allow itself to be so inadequately 
protected. December 5, 1779, Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton, wrote to Benjamin Frankhn: "We have a good, 
though not a numerous army, about 20,000 fine hardy 
fellows, as tough as the knots of an old seasoned oak, 
well disciplined, well armed, and pretty well clothed, 
commanded by a man whom they reverence and love." ^ 
It is interesting to compare this description of our army 

^ Popular Government, p. 248. ^ Jiyid., p. 255. 

3 Life and Correspondence of Charles Carroll of CarrolUon, vol. 
II, p. 30. 



128 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

in 1779 with the above observations of President Taft, 
and especially with the report to the Secretary of War, 
of November 15, 1914, of the Chief of Staff, Major-Gen- 
eral W. W. Wotherspoon, According to this report, on 
November 15, 1914, the actual strength of the army, 
exclusive of the Philippine Scouts, was 4572 officers and 
88,444 enlisted men. The authorized strength was 4726 
officers and 95,977 enlisted men. The army, said Gen- 
eral Wotherspoon, was therefore 154 officers and 7533 
enlisted men below its authorized strength. The Secre- 
tary of War, in December, 1912, stated that "outside of 
the regular army, the only force of men who have re- 
ceived any military training existing in the United States 
to-day is the National Guard." General Wotherspoon 
reported that on November 15, 1914, the total reported 
strength of the National Guard, or organized militia, 
was 8323 officers and 119,087 enlisted men. Of the reg- 
ular army the field or mobile force of our army was less 
than 52,000 enlisted men. Of the organized militia only 
73.87 per cent of officers and men attended the annual 
camps of instruction. As to the organized militia, Gen- 
eral Wotherspoon said: " It must, however, be admitted, 
that unless there be a material change in the laws gov- 
erning the organized militia, which will bring about a 
greater reliance upon and an increased control by the 
General Government, that branch of our military es- 
tablishment cannot be regarded and depended upon as 
a refiable force." The report concludes that, "in look- 
ing over the strength of our garrisons in foreign pos- 
sessions, it becomes at once manifest that the garrisons 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 129 

we are maintaining there or propose to maintain there, 
under the scheme of distribution of our army as it ex- 
ists at present, are entirely inadequate for the need of 
those possessions." As to conditions at home, the then 
Chief of Staff said, "That we cannot, with our pres- 
ent strength, rapidly assemble a sufficient force, fully 
equipped for field operations, to meet such an expedition 
as might be dispatched against our shores, is evident." 
Worthy of serious consideration is the assertion: "That 
the great waterway of the Panama Canal cannot be 
protected against the operations of a first-class military 
power by the present or proposed garrison we contem- 
plate placing there, without the power and ability to 
reinforce it rapidly by troops from the United States, 
is equally manifest." 

i I have elsewhere compared our defenses with that of 
a first-class continental power, ^ and it is not the prov- 
ince of this little book to discuss army reform; but the 
department of the Executive, primarily meant to insure 
domestic tranquillity^ has not kept pace with the needs^^^ 
of the Government/ For the amount of money expended 
and for the proper protection of the United States our 
present military establishment is extremely inadequate. 
In his last report as Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson 
called attention to "the diffusion of the army and the 
lack of tactical organization, which results in our hav- 
ing what is virtually a number of scattered groups of 
constabulary rather than an integral organization and 

1 " Autumn ManoBUvres of a German Army Corps," Infantry 
Journal, December, 1912. 



130 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

which prevents the proper training and team work of 
the national army." 

The General Staff of the army, on August 12, 1912, 
made a report on "The Organization of the Land 
Forces of the United States." This document contained 
the broad outlines of a comprehensive military policy. 
Some of the reforms proposed can be carried out by 
executive action, but the greater part of these reforms 
must be provided by Congress. Treatment of the army 
itself in time of peace has varied under every Admin- 
istration, and almost uniformly Congress has opposed 
the recommendations of the Executive for reforms of 
the army. The existence of isolated and small frontier 
posts and garrisons throughout the United States has 
repeatedly been the subject of criticism by the Execu- 
tive, but so far Congressmen have been very loath to 
consent to the removal of any body of troops from 
cities in their districts, which profit by the presence of 
such troops. I 

i think if Is time that the people of the United States 
read and ponder General Wotherspoon's report and bear 
in mind the opinion of the most pacific of Presidents: 
" I am as strongly in favor as any one can be of prose- 
cuting every plan that will make war less and less prob- 
able. I believe there are practical plans that can ac- 
complish much in this direction. I do not believe the 
plan of common disarmament is a practical plan. It 
has been tried and has failed." ^ I am entirely of the 
opinion here expressed by President Taft and I also 
* Popular Government, p. 256. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 131 

agree with his following conclusion: "The people of 
the United States, on the whole, are a shrewd, enter- 
prising, and provident people, but they have not proven 
it by their military policy." ^ 

A morning newspaper of to-day (February 19, 1915) 
lies on my table as I begin this chapter. Under large 
headlines I read this report: "London, Feb. 18. — The 
immediate effect of the German submarine blockade of 
the British Isles, beginning to-day, was to tie up all 
passenger traffic from England to Holland. The crews 
of one Danish and three Norwegian ships at Aarhus, 
Denmark, refused to-day to sail for England and left 
their ships. This action was announced by the Ex- 
change Telegraph Company's Copenhagen correspond- 
ent in a dispatch which reported that the Norwegian 
steamer Nordcap had struck a German mine in the 
Baltic Sea and foundered. All her crew perished." ^ 
President Lowell, of Harvard University, writing in 
November, 1908, says of the British Admiralty: "The 
system appears to be highly satisfactory, and in fact it 
is constantly held up as a model to the less fortunate 

1 Popular Government, p. 247. 

1 wrote this chapter in February, 1915. When I corrected the 
proof on February 4, 1916, 1 found no need for a revision. "Pre- 
paredness" was much discussed, and various plans were under 
consideration, but in regard to actual armaments the Federal Gov- 
ernment was in exactly the same position as it was a year before. 
I have elsewhere discussed the subject of "Preparedness." ("Policy 
and Armament," Baltimore American, January 25 and 28, February 
1 and 5, 1916. These articles were written under the name of "X.") 

2 The Sun, Baltimore, Friday morning, February 19, 1915, vol. 
CLVI, no. 82, p. 1. 



132 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

chiefs of the army." ^ As I write, the whole fabric of the 
English Government is being tested. Built up through 
centuries of development by the employment of legal 
fictions, the English Government to-day has seemed to 
be one of the most effective Governments in existence, 
but from the point of view of American political science, 
there is little benefit to be derived from a comparison 
of our Federal Executive and the executive departments 
of the English Government. The principal divisions of 
the English executive departments are the Foreign Of- 
fice, Colonial Office, India Office, War Office, Home 
Office, the Treasury, the Post-Office, the "Law Offi- 
cers' Department," the Admiralty, the Board of Trade, 
the Local Government Board, the Board of Works, the 
Board of Agriculture, and the Board of Education. It 
is impossible here to go into the peculiarities of the Eng- 
lish Government, which are due to the necessity of plac- 
ing new wine in old bottles by attributing novel functions 
to ancient institutions. A familiar example of such fic- 
tions is that by which the Island of Ascension, instead of 
being under the direction of the Home Secretary as an 
island, is brought under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty 
upon the official announcement that the island is to be 
considered a vessel of war. The boards I have enu- 
merated, in the words of Mr. Lowell, "are legal phan- 
toms that provide imaginary colleagues for a single 
responsible Minister." ^ The English Government is, 

, 1 A. Lawrence Lowell, The Government of England, vol. I, p. 93. 
8 Ibid., vol. I, p. 84. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 133 

therefore, much more hke our Government than would 
appear from a superficial examination of the names of 
the executive departments, and each of these depart- 
ments is actually under the direction of a Minister who 
is more or less in the position of the head of one of our 
executive departments. The Admiralty, however, is 
one of the executive departments, and in fact the only 
one which is actually conducted by a board. This 
board consists of a First Lord, four Naval Lords, and a 
Civil Lord, together with the parliamentary and per- 
manent Secretaries.^ The First Lord is practically a 
Minister of Marine or Secretary of the Navy, assisted 
by an advisory council. The British Admiralty has 
many points in common with our Navy Department, 
in which our Secretary of the Navy corresponds to the 
English First Lord, while the chiefs of the various 
bureaus have duties quite similar to those of the remain- 
ing members of the Admiralty, with the marked differ- 
ence that none of our executive officers have seats in the 
legislative branch of the Government. As I have before 
pointed out, it is impossible to draw any very close 
analogy between our executive departments and those 
of foreign Governments, but a comparison is interesting. 
In 1798 the sea soldiers of the United States passed 
from the control of the War Department, and the newly 
created Secretary of the Navy assumed direction of the 
naval affairs of the nation. The War of 1812 was an 
overseas war, but had the army of the United States 

1 Report of Commissioners on Administration of Naval and Mili^ 
tary Departments, Com, Papers (1890), xix, 1, pp. viii-ix. 



134 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

been as efficient as its navy, the war might well have 
been settled on land, for England possessed in Canada 
vulnerable territory. The Civil War was a land war, 
but the navy rendered conspicuous service. In the 
problems of the national defense, or, as the Constitu- 
tion puts it, securing domestic tranquillity and pro- 
viding for the common defense, there should be no poli- 
tics. Whether our army and navy are adequate for 
these purposes is no more a question for a division of 
the citizens of the United States into the usual political 
parties than is the question of whether or not the New 
York police force furnishes adequate protection for life 
and property in that city. 

The "New Navy" dates from Secretary Whitney, 
1885-89, and in the Spanish War, as well as in the 
previous wars, rendered conspicuously efficient service. 
The army of the United States has no logical territorial 
systems of garrisons and depots. Frontier posts of by- 
gone days still exist at the positions in which they were 
originally placed as necessities to Indian warfare, and 
remain at these locations in spite of the fact that the 
need which called for their original establishment has 
long since ceased to exist. From the points of view of 
discipline, mobility, and administration, the scattering 
of what land forces the United States possesses is very 
detrimental to the army. The location of navy-yards 
and depots has been frequently subjected to question, 
but the navy is not under the same disadvantage as the 
army in reference to the unsystematic location of garri- 
sons, for in the navy each fighting unit possesses in it- 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 135 

self the essentials of mobility and action. Unlike a regi- 
ment or greater fighting unit of the army, which, in a 
country like ours, must rely upon transportation by 
railroad or water, each ship of the navy individually 
possesses facilities of transportation, subsistence, and 
combat. The navy has been fortunate in another mat- 
ter of great importance. The majority of the members 
of most Congresses have considered themselves ex-offi- 
cio experts in army affairs, and the list of colonels of 
volunteers commissioned in the Spanish War would 
lead one to believe that the opinion is prevalent that 
any one can successfully command a regiment. Fortu- 
nately for the navy, a similar belief has not prevailed. 
The navy has not suffered to the same extent as has the 
army from unskilled civilian interference. President 
Lowell is authority for the statement that a similar 
condition has existed in England. To the Englishmen, 
however, he says, "the navy is a mystery which ordi- 
nary men do not pretend to understand, and with which 
they do not attempt to interfere; and this is a security 
for expert management." ^ The navy is admittedly a 
matter for experts. For its history and its uses one must 
look to the writings of such men as the late Admiral 
Mahan. For the study of the Federal Executive, the 
navy offers little material. I shall, therefore, attempt 
only a brief consideration of the navy as a force avail- 
able to the President in his capacity as commander-in- 
chief for insuring domestic tranquillity. 

The constructive genius of the American people has 
^ A. Lawrence Lowell, The Government of England, vol. i, p. 102. 



136 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

been much more alert to the needs of the navy than to 
the possession of a properly trained, equipped, and or- 
ganized defensive army. Until the termination of the 
present European conflict, all opinions as to the value 
of naval units must be held in abeyance, but it is stated 
that the American navy at the present time is in a 
commendable state of efficiency, whether or not it is 
adequate in size for the protection of the nation. It 
certainly possesses the best training school for officers 
that exists, and the character of the training accorded 
to the officers of the navy is vital to the efficiency 
of that branch of the service. Experts agree that our 
system of naval training for officers is better than that 
of England. English writers, especially after the Boer 
War, were united in their adverse criticism of English 
army training, but there has never been any serious 
criticism of the training afforded by West Point to what 
army officers the United States has graduated from 
that institution. The American people are as capable 
of organizing and training a sufficient force as are the 
people of any other nation, but they are not awake to 
the dangers that threaten our huge and inadequately 
protected borders. 

The Naval Academy at Annapolis was formally 
opened October 10, 1845. Its history ^ states that the 
Naval Academy at Annapolis owes its inception to the 
administrative ability of George Bancroft as Secre- 
tary of the Navy. "Less than eight months after as- 

1 James Russell Soley, Historical Sketch of the United States Naval 
Academy, pp. 74-76. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 137 

suming the duties of his office, Bancroft was enabled 
to present to the country a fully organized academy, 
in efficient working order, which was destined to do for 
the navy what West Point had so long done for the 
army. He had accomplished during a single recess of 
Congress what his predecessors had for thirty years in 
vain attempted to secure by legislation." Whatever 
matter fully commands the interest of the American 
people is apt to be well and satisfactorily accomplished. 
Unfortunately, very little public interest has been taken 
in the past in the study of governmental problems. 
When the proper use of experts in government is fully 
realized, and when a proper separation between political 
and purely expert officers in the Government is made, 
then and only then shall we begin to secure thoroughly 
efficient service in our cities, in our States, and in our 
federal service. I should be very glad to see the De- 
partment of Education in the Interior Department 
erected into a Department of Education whose head 
would rank with the other members of the President's 
Cabinet, and I should like to see, as one of the most 
important functions of this department, the establish- 
ment and maintenance of a training-school for public 
civil servants of the Government similar to West Point 
and Annapolis. 

Prior to the foundation of the Naval Academy, offi- 
cers mostly obtained their training from instruction 
given upon the individual ships of the navy. There is 
no comparison between the efficiency of the training 
thus afforded and the education that may be obtained 



138 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

at the present Naval Academy. At the present time the 
civil employees of our diplomatic service, our consular 
service, and our various administrative branches of the 
Government are trained in a much less satisfactory 
way than were the officers of the navy prior to the foun- 
dation of the Naval Academy. We have learned from 
that experience the value of such a training-school. 
To-day our colleges are devoting an increasing amount 
of attention to instruction in government, and many 
courses are given with the avowed purpose of fitting 
students for government service. The furtherance of 
such education, however, would be greatly facilitated 
by the organization of a governmental school of admin- 
istration and public service. Washington was in favor 
of a National University. The whole basis of the gov- 
ernment of a free people is proper education. General 
collegiate or university education is not lacking in facili- 
ties in this country, but it is imperative that some 
method be devised by which trained men may be reared 
for the work of the federal executive administration. 

In reference to this, Secretary Bancroft's annual re- 
port of December 1, 1845, contains the following ac- 
count of the founding of the Naval Academy which 
merits consideration: "Congress, in its great desire to 
improve the navy, had permitted the department to 
employ professors and instructors at an annual cost of 
$28,200; and it had been used, besides the few employed 
at the receiving-ships and the Naval Asylum, to send 
professors with the midshipmen to every ocean and 
every clime. But the ship is not friendly to study, and 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 139 

the office of professor rapidly declined into a sinecure; 
often not so much was done as the elder officers would 
cheerfully do for their juniors. The teachers on board 
of the receiving-ship gave little instruction, or none 
whatever; so that the expenditure was fruitless of great 
results. Many of the professors were able and willing, 
but the system was a bad one. The idea naturally sug- 
gested itself of seizing the time when the midshipmen 
are on shore and appropriating it to their culture. In- 
stead of sending migratory professors to sea with each 
handful of midshipmen, the midshipmen themselves, 
in the intervals between sea-duty, might be collected 
in a body and devote their time to suitable instruction. 
For the pay of the instructors Congress has provided. 
In looking out for a modest shelter for the pupils, I was 
encouraged to ask for Fort Severn, at Annapolis. The 
transfer was readily made by order of the Secretary of 
War, and a school was immediately organized on an 
unostentatious and frugal plan. This institution, by 
giving some preliminary instruction to the midshipmen 
before their first cruise; by extending an affectionate 
but firm supervision over them as they return from sea; 
by providing them suitable culture before they pass 
to a higher grade; by rejecting from the service all who 
fail in capacity or in good disposition to use their time 
well, will go far to renovate and improve the American 
navy." The Naval Academy has done more than any 
other one influence "to renovate and improve the Amer- 
ican navy," and it would be a most excellent thing for 
the civil government of the United States if the same 



140 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

renovating and improving process could be applied in 
the same manner for the production of trained experts 
in government. 

In his first annual address to Congress, President 
Washington, on January 8, 1790, said: "Among the 
many interesting objects which will engage your atten- 
tion, that of providing for the common defense will merit 
particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the 
most effectual means of preserving peace." ^ The main- 
tenance of our army and navy is for the purpose of pre- 
serving peace. Let us see what measure of preparedness 
"against" war (to use the excellent distinction made by 
the Honorable A. P. Gardner) as a preservative of this 
peace the navy affords. In 1789, when the department 
was created, the navy consisted of 22 ships, 456 guns, 
and 3484 men. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1914, the enlisted strength of the navy reached a total 
of 52,667 men, and in May, 1914, the navy's author- 
ized complement, which had been short for several 
years, was completely filled. ^ The appropriations for the 
fiscal year 1914-15 for the naval establishment amounted 
to more than $140,000,000. I am indebted to the Hon- 
orable Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of 
the Navy, for the following summary of vessels in the 
navy on February 20, 1915: — 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. I, p. 65. 

2 Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 19H, p. 25. 



piacen 
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Austria-Hungary 








1 


' 1 




1 10 


2 




19 


15 


rs- ■ 


il37 


80 




'753 


558 




73 


175 




326 


164 




! 259 (c) 


84 




1228 


224 (h) 




107 


141 (i) 




— 


11 




,340 


387 




1,660 

1 — 


17,689 0") 




,913 


19,531 



Ly ore only, 6 flag officers, 20 cap- 
le Coaf*- 



cipauj 
fman ^ 
^ ofiic< 
Jias, U 



jljgjjgjicy was due to the inclusion of 

tenanr" 
\ was 



benanf'' ^'"^^ officers. Under Italy the 



July 1, mil, 



SEA STRENGTH 

SHIPS 



Office of .Vara/ 1 itlclUgcnce, 
Nai'tj Department 



TABLE I. — VESSELS BUILT 



TABLE II, — VESSILS BUILDING OR AUTHORIZED 





Baltleships. 

Dreadnought 

type (a) 


Battleships 
(6) 


Battle 
cruxsers 


Armored 
cruisers 


Cruisers 
id) 


Destroyers 


Torpedo 
boats 


Submarines 


Coast defense 
vessels 
(.) 1 




Battleships. 

Drt'adnoutjht 

type 


Battle cr^\s^rs 


Cruistrs 


Dfntrat/trs 


Torpetio boats 


Suhmarinns 




20 
13 
8 
4 
2 

3 
3 


40 

20 

22 

18 

13 

7 

8 

6 


9 (A-) 

4 





2 








34 
9 
11 
20 
13 
6 
9 
2 


74 (fc) 

41 

14 

9 
13 

9 

6 

5 


167 (k) 
130 

51 

84 

50 

91 

32 

18 


49 

13 
135 
27 
14 
(38 
39 


75 (k) 
27 
30 
G4 
13 
30 
19 
6 


1 
" 1 

2 

4 
1 
2 
2 

C 


t England (/) 

Germany ig) 

United States. . . . 


16 

7 
4 
8 
4 
7 

I 


1 

4 


2 
4 




17 {k) 
5 



8 
2 
5 


21 (A) 

24 

11 

3 

2 
44 
15 

1 












(Jcrmany 

Unil,ed States 


18 
19 




Japan (h) 

Russia (H 

Italy 


",■; 




19 
S 
li 




Austria-Hungary. . 


Austria-Hungary . 


(fi) BaUleshipa having a main battery of all big guns (11 inches or more in caliber). 

(Ii) UaHlcaliips of (about) 10,000 tons or more displacement, and having more than one caUber in the main battery. 

(r) Armored cruisers liaving guns of largest caliber in main l>attery and capal)Ie of taking their place in hne of battle with the battleships. Tliey 
have an increase of speed at the expense of carrying fewer guns in main battery, and a decrease in armor protection. 
id) Includes all unarmored cruising vessels above 1.500 tons displacement, 
(c) Includes smaller battleships and monitors. No more vessels of this class are being proposed or built by the great powers. 


(il) Germany has a continuing shipbuilding progmmmc, governed by a tied law uulhoiinod by tho 
Reichstag. For 1913 there are nuthori>ed 1 battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 2 cruisers, 12 destroyers, ICvoutual 
1 strength to consist of -11 battleships, 20 armored cruisers, -10 eruisora, 14.| dosti'oyors, 72 Bubnuulnon, 
j (A) S7S,S37„'>I)9 authorised to be o.\pendeil from Itlll to 11117 for the eoustru'elion of war vesaeia. 

(A) Includes vessels of colonies. 
1 (i) Russian shipbuilding programme provides lor die eon\plelioii by IiMn .>( 1 hiUile cruiMcrs. S small 
1 cruisers, 3li destroyers, and IS submarines. 



The following vessels are not included in the tables: 

Ships over twenty years old from date of launch, unless thoy ha 

Torpedo craft over fifteen years old. 

Transports, colliers, repair ships, converted merchant vessels, or any otlier auxiliaries. 

Vessels of less than 1500 tons, except torpedo craft. Torpedo craft of less than 50 tons. 
Note. — Vessels undergoing trials are considered as completed. 



n reconstructed and recniu'd within live yearn. 



ACTIVE PERSONNEL 



/Mil/ 


AuilriifHuniiaty 




_ 


1 


1 


10 


2 


19 


15 


137 


HO 


7r,:i 


558 


73 


175 


326 


1114 


259 (r) 


84 


22H 


224 (/,) 


107 


141(1) 





11 


i,:j40 


387 


3ti,f)<lO 


17,089 (j) 



Admirals of the Fleet. ■ . . 

Admirals 

Vice-.\dmirals 

Uear-.Vdmirals 

('aptains and Commander 

OlliiT liiuMiiricors 

MiilshipiiiiMi :il sea 

I'lnniiiriT cillii-crs 

Medical ollicers 

Pay officers 

Naval Construotors 

Cl'aplains 

\\ arrant officers 

Isiili.^tcd men. . . '. 

Marine officers 

Enli.sted men (Marines) . . 

Total 



3 

12 

22 

58 

702 

2,508 

639 

837 

593 

750 

122 

147 

2,740 

119,597 

465 

21,414 (h) 



6 

12 

22 

154 

2,220 

448 

577 

340 

276 

162 

30 

3,183 

65,797 

177 (e) 

5,791 (e) 



1(a) 



25 (ff) 
212 
1,(580 



336 

231 

75 

24 

807 

52,566 

341 

9,915 



_ 


2 


— 





15 


19 


30 


38 


300 


270 


1,419 


1,965 


77 


119 


505 


811 


390 (r) 


3ti4 (/) 


211 


388 


187 


135 (k) 


147(</) 


1,509 


0O,.5O5 


50,050 



12 

20 

21 

340 

1,378 

538 
280 

519 

85 

49,258 



150,609 



79,197 



06,273 



63,S46 



55,736 



52,403 



3Q,913 



10,631 



(o) The Admiral of the Nayy. 

(61 Includes 3130 men of the Coast Guard. 

(r) Includes pharmacists. 

ft/t Includes adjudants principaux; does no 

(f J Marine infantry and seanian artillery. 

(/I Includes pharmaceutical officers. 

(tf) The I'nited States now has. temporarily, as extra numbers, due to promotion (or i 



elude premier maitres and maitres. 



ice, and to officers reatrictcd by taw to eDglnecrini duty on ahnro only, flag ofllccn, 20 cap* 
tains. commanders. G lieutenant comrnandera, and 1 lieutenant. 

(A) Includes 21 ofHcern of the Judge Advocates Curpn. 

(i) Includes i hydrographic engineers. 

01 Includes 4000 recruits (or 42 doya. 

(t) Includes M ordnance and 10 hydroxraphic engineers. 



NoTK. — In the table published December 1. Ifll3. the number of captains and commanders given was 3.')6 and other line officers IfWl. This apparent discrepancy wa* du 
213 Korwtten Kopilnne (lieutenant commanders) with the raptains and commanders. In the above table the Kon-etten Kapitane (228) are included with the other line olBci 
number of vice-admirals fciven was IS: this was a typographical error and should ha\*e been 8. 



> the inchulon ol 
1 niler Italy the 









Office of Naval Intelligence, 
Navy Department 


LY 




AUSTRIA- 


HUNGARY 


Building 


Built 


Building 


Number 

ll 


Tons 
(estimated) 


Number 


Tons 


Number 


Tons 
(estimated) 


7 


187,150 


3 


60,030 


4 


93,510 


— 


— 


6 


74,613 


— 


— 


— 


— 


6 


41,700 


— 


— 


[ . 





2 


13,380 


— 





2 


4,888 


5 


13,815 


5 


21,216 


15 


14,203 


18 


9,450 


— 


— 


1 2 


272 


39 


6,852 


24 


5,886 


I ^ 


5,842 


6 


1,686 


6 


5,370 


— 


212,355 


— 


221,526 


— 


125,982 


,815 


347,508 


j 

n of battl 


e with the 










ik decreas 


e in armor 










j ^ which b 


atterjr and 










fe all cTui 


sers except 










I 

'lets hav 

5 


e not been 










. within fii 


^e years. 










;! 












1 
i 
) 






- 







WARSHIP TONNAGE OF THE PRINCIPAL NAVAL POWERS 

NUMBER AND DISPLACEMENT OF WARSHIPS, BUILT AND BUILDING, OF 1500 OR MORE TONS, AND OF TORPEDO CRAFT OF MORE THAN 50 TONS 



Oflieo <tf Nmal liiMUgciu-i 
Nmy Drparliuiitl 





aniSAT BRITAIN' 




UEltMANY 1 




UNITED 


STATE. 




FRANCE 


JAPAN 




KUSSIA 






ITALY 




AUSTIUA-HUNOAKY 


-I'Vl'H 0|.' VHHHUI, 


Ilutll 


i MUnv 


BuUI 


ttuiUini/ 


BuiU 


BuiUlino 


Built 


Biiildino 


Bu.(i 


Buildiiw 


Built 


Building 


Built 


Bitildiua 


fiiiiH 


Um'lifiiig 




Nuvltipr Turn 


NumliBF 


laUmaUil) 


Nwnlicr 


Tajm 


Number 


Ttin* 
{estimated) 


Vumher 


Tom 


Nmnlier 


Tom 
ieetimatetl) 


Numlier 


Tom 


Wumtn- 


Tom 
(eadmaleW) 


Number 


Tom 


Number 


Tuna 
{estimated) 


Number 


Tons 


Number 


Tom 
{estimated) 


Number 


Ton, 


ffumbrr 


Tous 
{esliinateit) 


Number 


Tom 


iVliwibBr 


Tom 
{mlimutat) 


liiilUosliipH 1 (DrorulnouKhl, tyiio) . . 
HriUlcsliipH » ( I'TO-ilrimdiKiiinlil-) . . . 
Oonnt-dofoimc vuuhhIh " 
HiiUlooniim™ '..,.. 

Annorod oniimirH 

CruiBo™ • 


'20 
40 

:;i 

V-l 
1 1(17 

! vr, 


423,350 
580,385 

I87,HI)(I 
4IIII,S(I(I 
;iK2,m5 

i2ri,sr>o 

1 1 ,4SS 

;)ii.;iii2 


IB 

1 

17 
21 

22 


421,750 

2S,W)() 

()7,l)l>0 
21,770 

17,230 


13 

20 
2 
4 
II 

41 
130 

27 


285,770 
2'12,80() 
8,108 
88,740 
04,245 
150,747 
(;7,1II14 

14,140 


7 

4 

5 
21 

18 


lS7,lli4 

112,000 

20,000 
14,400 

14,400 


H 
22 
4 

11 

14 
51 
13 
30 


189,050 
309,282 
12,900 

140,295 

00,410 

35,008 

2,528 


4 
11 

'19 


117,800 
11,950 


4 
IS 

1 

20 
9 
84 
135 
04 


92,308 

262,675 

8,800 

201,724 
46,095 
35,812 
13,426 
27,940 


8 
3 

22 


193,656 

2,653 
14,766 


2 
13 
2 
2 

13 
13 
50 

27 
13 


41,600 

191,380 
9,086 
55,000 
138,483 
67,915 
20,487 
3,017 
2,072 


4 
2 


122,400 

65,000 

1,676 
1,200 


2 


9 
91 
14 
30 


98,750 
10,380 

63,500 
52,845 
36,748 
2,132 
6,500 


4 

8 
44 

19 


159,409 

128,000 

53,600 
53,004 

13,284 


3 

8 

9 

30 
68 
19 


62,044 
90,100 

74,020 
18,83(1 
10,807 
11,584 
5,475 


2 
15 
2 
8 


187,150 

4,888 

14,203 

272 

5,842 


3 



18 
39 



00,030 
71,013 
41,700 

13,380 
13,815 
0,450 
0,8,52 
1,080 


■1 

21 



93,510 
21,210 




5,8S0 


Siil)miii'iinm 


6,370 


TnUilUmxIiiillUiud lulid li.im 
liiiililiim 




550,250 


- 


051,713 


- 


354,804 


- 


705,133 


- 


129,750 


- 


688,840 


- 


211,075 


- 


519,040 


- 


180,276 


- 


270,801 


- 


407,957 


- 


285,400 


- 


212,355 


- 


221,620 


- 


126,082 


'I'lilld h.liMl.llill. I>l>d iMlildlMII. 


2,714,100 


i 


1,300,577 


894,889 


899,915 


099,910 


678,818 


497,816 




347,608 





HEIjATIVE OIlDEn OF WAILSmi" TONNAGE 



J'rilAllI oTiln {tonnaue eomfitetal) 



Omit. Brltiiia 
(loriniuiy . . .1 
Unltml Btivloi 

Fvnudo 1 

.liiptui , 

Kidy , 

IlUSHill 

AuKlriu-Il 



Ijnry. 






2,167,850 
961,713 
705,133 
088,840 
510,040 
285,400 
270,801 
221,620 



A» tooultl be //iK c 



Groftl Britain- 

Cicrmany 

Franco 

United States. 

Japan 

Russia 

Italy 

A\i»triii 



V building uiere computed 



Totm 



2,7M.10G 
1,300,577 
899,915 
8iM,8S9 
099,910 
078.818 
497.R15 
347,508 



> Bnttleahipa having a main battery of all big guna. (1 1 inches or more in caliber.) ' 

I BQttle8hip3 of (about) 10.000 or more tons diaplacement, whoao mnin battorioa aro of more than ono calibtir. 

' Includes smaller battleships ami monitors. 

* Armored cruisers having guns of largest caliber in main battery and capable of taking their place in Una of battle with i 
battleships. They have an increase of speed at the oxponsc of carrying fewer guna in main battery and li deorouao In am 
protection. 

" All unarmore<l warships of more than 1500 tons are clasaod as cruiaera. Soouta are considerod an cniiflfim iif wlilnh battery n 
protection have been aaorifice<i to secure extreme speed. The word " protected " hoa been omitted bccjuiH^ nil eruianni i-iri 
the smallest and oldest now have protective deoks. 

<'■ Colonial vessels included. 

' Includes 3 submarines authorited in 1013; contract for fourth not yet awarded. 



include Idaho ond Missisaippi, recently sold, or ships of c 



awarded. 

The followina vp,M»e!s are not iorludcd in the tables: 

Ships over twenty yearn old from date of launch, unleiw limy hti\ 
Torpedo craft over fifteen years old. 
Those not actually begun or ordered, although outhoriied, 
Trari3port«. collieis. repair ships, torpedo depot shipH, or other a 
V<-S8els o( le!« than 1500 tons, except torpedo croft. 
Torp«.do cmft of Ipss than 50 tons. 
VesjwN undergoing trialw are eonsidfretl on rompli-twl. 



t prograinrne fni 



u-in )mv. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 



141 



SUMMARY OF VESSELS IN THE UNITED STATES 
NAVY, FEBRUARY 20, 1915 





Fit for service, 

including those 

under repair 


Under 
construction 


Authorized 


Total 


Type 


.a 

i 


Displace- 
ment 
(tons) 


s 

1 


Displace- 
ment 
(tons) 


S 

1 


Dis- 
place- 
ment 
(tons) 


rO 

s 

1 


Displace- 
ment 
(tons) 


Battleships, 1st line 
Battleships, 2d line 
Armored cruisers . . 
Cruisers, 1st class. . 
Cruisers, 2d class . . 
Cruisers, 3d class. . 


10 

23 

10 

5 

4 

15 

9 

50 

19 

36 

7 

30 

5 

4 

2 

22 

16 

45 

8 

20 


221,650 

308,146 

140.080 

46,465 

25,065 

48,748 

32,944 

33,995 

3,365 

12,440 

20,892 
27,890 
26,595 
25,400 

9,000 
*232,401 

9,476 
18,024 
43,333 

45,101 


7 

12 

22 

2 

1 

1 

2 


213,800 

12,992 

11,788 

10,730 

10,000 
8,500 

29,000 


6 
6 


6,660 


10 
5 

4 
15 

9 
68 
19 
58 

9 

30 

6 

6 

2 

24 

16 

45 

8 

20 


435,450 
308,146 
140,080 
46,465 
25,065 
48,748 
32,944 


Destroyers 

Torpedo boats 

Submarines 

Tenders to torpedo 


53,647 

3,365 

24,228 

31,622 




27,890 


Transports 

Supply ships 

Hospital sliips 


36,595 

33,900 

9,000 

*261,401 


Converted yachts. . 
Tugs 


9,476 
18,024 


Special type 

Unserviceable for 
war purposes .... 


43,333 
45,101 


Total 


340 


*1,331,010 


47 


296,810 


6,660 


393 


*1, 634,480 



* Excepting the Justin. 

I am also indebted to Mr. Roosevelt for the accom- 
panying comparative tables of foreign navies prepared 
by the Office of Naval Intelligence as of July, 1914. " No 
attempt," Mr. Roosevelt advised me on March 15, 
1915, "has been made to bring these up to date, owing 
to the conflicting reports of losses and new construc- 
tion during the war." 

Whether or not the United States possesses an ade- 
quate navy is at present a much-mooted question, but a 
discussion of this question is outside the limits of this 



142 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

book. From the latest recommendations of the experts 
in the Navy Department the layman would be led to 
believe that our navy is at the present time not entirely 
satisfactory to the men among us who should be best 
qualified to express an opinion. If there is any serious 
question of the adequacy of our army and navy for the 
purpose of the Federal Government, every sane citizen 
of the United States should advise himself upon this 
serious question and see that the conclusion he forms 
becomes an effective part of that public opinion of the 
nation which causes Congress and the Federal Execu- 
tive to take action.^ 

1 I wrote the above in February, 1915. When I corrected the 
proof on February 7, 1916, I found, unfortunately, no need for 
revision. A National Security Congress was held in Washington, 
January 20, 21, and 22, 1916, under the auspices of the National 
Security League, and I attended this Congress as a delegate. In a 
letter to this Congress, ex-President Roosevelt said: "For eighteen 
months, with this world-cyclone before our eyes, we as a nation have 
sat supine without preparing in any shape or way. It is an actual 
fact that there has not been one soldier, one rifle, one gun, one boat, 
added to the American army or navy, so far, because of anything 
that has occurred in this war, and not the slightest step has yet 
been taken looking toward the necessary preparedness." At the 
dinner, given by the National Security Congress on January 22, 
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, said: "I served in 
the House some years ago, on the Naval Committee. I am at this 
moment an unworthy member of the Senate Committee on Naval 
Affairs, and I have tried to inform myself in regard to the navy. 
. . . There is the shortage of men. The Secretary has sent in the re- 
port of Admiral Fletcher, made on the 15th of August last, and in 
that he describes the shortage of men. At the June inspection one 
division was short 1350 men. . . . We have no scouts. We have no 
fast battle cruisers. The Bluecher, which was sunk in the North 
Sea, was sunk because she was the slowest of the German ships. 
She was faster than any ship in our navy." Criticizing the slowness 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 143 

In addition to the Departments of War and the Navy, 
the Department of Justice most certainly exercises its 
functions for the purpose of "insuring domestic tran- 
quillity." The Judiciary Bill was debated in the Sen- 
ate in July, 1789. This bill, which had been prepared 
by a committee of which Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
was a member, was bitterly opposed by some of the 
members of the Senate. "I opposed this bill from the 
beginning," writes William Maclay. "It certainly is a 
vile law system, calculated for expense and with a de- 
sign to draw by degrees all law business into the Federal 
Courts. The Constitution is meant to swallow all the 
State Constitutions by degrees and thus to swallow, by 
degrees, all the State Judiciaries." ^ The "meet person," 
for whose appointment as Attorney-General this act 
provided, to-day has charge of executive and adminis- 
trative matters of a nature which might be held to give 
some color of reason to Senator Maclay's prediction. I 
have already discussed the development of the office of 
Attorney-General. Its functions are of very great in- 
terest. 

The department as it exists to-day performs two sorts 

in building submarines, he said: "The Schley was the first one au- 
thorized. It was authorized on the 30th of June, 1914. The contract 
was let the following March — March of 1915. In the bulletin of 
January 10, 1916, it appears that nothing has been done upon her 
yet. How long do you think is the contract time for the Schley, 
the first of our sea-going submarines? I was astonished when I 
found out. Thirty-six months, three years! She is not contracted 
to be delivered until March, 1918, and if we want submarines, we 
want them now." 

^ Journal of William Maclay, p. 117. 



144 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

of duties. It has certain functions relating to the courts 
of the United States, and it is the Law Department of 
the United States. The Attorney-General, the fourth 
member of the Cabinet, is the head of the department. 
While he has no control over the judges who constitute 
the judiciary, he assists the President in their appoint- 
ment. The clerks of the courts are appointed by the 
judges, but United States marshals, whose duties corre- 
spond to those of a sheriff in a state court, are appointed 
by the President upon the advice of the Attorney-Gen- 
eral. The judges, the clerks, and the marshals are all 
members of the Department of Justice, and the ac- 
counts of the judges and clerks are under the supervi- 
sion of the Attorney-General. Some knowledge of the 
organization of the courts is necessary to an understand- 
ing of the work of the department, but a discussion of 
the functions of the courts is not within the scope of 
this book. It will be a matter of surprise to many peo- 
ple to learn that the department has anything to do 
with the courts, except as prosecutor; but as the de- 
partment has developed, its head has come, more and 
more, to hold a position analogous to that held by the 
Minister of Justice of many European Governments. 
The relation of the department to the courts, however, 
extends only to matters of administration. It has no 
control over the judgments of the courts, although in 
the matter of the amount of fines or the length of im- 
prisonment in federal cases, the district attorneys are 
usually consulted by the judges, and all matters of ap- 
plications for pardons or paroles are passed upon by 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 145 

the department before the President extends his clem- 
ency. After I have given a brief account of the courts, 
I shall take up the organization of the Department of 
Justice. 

The United States is divided into nine judicial cir- 
cuits. The First Circuit comprises Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The Second 
Circuit is composed of Vermont, New York, and Con- 
necticut; while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Dela- 
ware make up the Third Circuit. The Fourth Circuit, 
in addition to Virginia and Maryland, contains West 
Virginia and North and South Carolina. The Fifth Cir- 
cuit covers a great deal of territory, including these 
States: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, 
and Georgia. The Sixth Circuit is peculiar in shape, 
running from north to south, and includes Michigan, 
Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Wisconsin, IlHnois, and 
Indiana are in the Seventh Circuit; while the Eighth 
Circuit is composed of thirteen States — Arkansas, 
Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, 
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colo- 
rado, Wyoming, and Utah. The Ninth Circuit takes in 
Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the States on the Pacific 
Coast of Washington, Oregon, and CaUfornia. Montana, 
Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona are also in this circuit. 
Porto Rico, although a part of the United States, is not 
in any of the nine circuits. 

At the head of each of the circuits is one of the nine 
justices of the Supreme Court, who is nominally the 
presiding judge of the circuit. Each of these circuits is 



146 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

divided into federal districts, of which there are eighty- 
seven. No State is less than a federal district and some 
great States like New York are divided into several dis- 
tricts. In each of these is a District Court, with its 
judge, clerk, attorney, marshal, and other officers, and 
in these District Courts all violations of the laws of 
the United States are primarily prosecuted. From the 
District Courts appeal may be taken to the Circuit 
Courts of Appeals, of which there is one in each of the 
nine circuits, and from these Circuit Courts of Appeals, 
in certain cases, there may be a further appeal to the 
Supreme Court, with its nine judges sitting in Wash- 
ington. There are thirty-four circuit judges, and ninety- 
one district judges. The latter sit both in the District 
Courts and in the Circuit Courts of Appeals. Other 
courts of the United States are the Court of Claims, 
with five judges in Washington, and the courts of the 
District of Columbia, with seventeen judges. There are, 
also, thirty-four judges in Territorial Courts. 

The Attorney-General and the officers who are di- 
rectly responsible to him have charge of the prepara- 
tion and conduct of all cases in which the United States 
is concerned. In each of the federal districts there is a 
federal grand jury or inquest, which investigates all 
violations of the criminal laws of the United States, 
and United States commissioners, who hold a position 
analogous to committing magistrates or justices of the 
peace. It may be of interest here to note the manner in 
which criminal cases come before the District Courts. 
A district attorney may, upon his own responsibility. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 147 

cause the arrest of any person accused of an infraction 
of the federal laws, or the grand jury may itself origi- 
nate an investigation, and, without the suggestion of 
the department, find an indictment; but usually infor- 
mation concerning a violation of the law is reported to 
some one of the district attorneys or to the depart- 
ment in Washington by one of the other executive de- 
partments. The Treasury Department has its "secret 
service" for the detection of counterfeiting and other 
allied matters, the Post-Ofiice Department has numer- 
ous post-office inspectors, while there are internal reve- 
nue agents, national-bank examiners, and a host of 
other investigators, beside the agents of the Bureau of 
Investigation of the Department of Justice. Usually, 
a warrant for the arrest of the accused person is issued 
by one of the United States commissioners, of whom 
there are several in each district. The accused is then 
given a public hearing before the commissioner, who 
may dismiss the charges if he deems them unsupported 
or if the accused offers sufficient evidence to excuse his 
action. If the commissioner considers there is sufficient 
evidence of a crime, the accused is held for the action 
of the grand jury, which sits in secret to hear the 
government case, in order that no man may be sub- 
jected to the ignominy of a public trial unless there 
appears to be a strong prima-facie case against him. 
Sometimes the grand jury takes up a case and finds an 
indictment without any previous arrest or any hearing 
before a commissioner; but since the grand jury is 
composed of twenty-three reputable and often promi- 



148 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

nent members of the community and the vote of twelve 
of them is necessary for the finding of an indictment, 
the rights of the accused are most carefully protected. 
When an indictment is presented to the court, so care- 
fully has the case been examined that it is often said 
that when a person is indicted in the federal court he 
had best plead guilty promptly and receive the smaller 
penalty that such action usually merits. 

The Department of Justice, as the Law Department 
of the United States Government, may be divided into 
three general divisions, headquarters of the Attorney- 
General in Washington, department solicitors and 
attorneys in Washington and New York, and the dis- 
trict attorneys. All of these are the direct subordinates 
of the Attorney-General. At headquarters in Wash- 
ington, besides the Attorney-General are the Solicitor- 
General, the Assistant to the Attorney-General, six 
Assistant Attorneys-General, numerous special assist- 
ants to the Attorney-General, attorneys, permanent 
assistant attorneys, and law clerks. In addition to 
these is a large force, including the Chief Clerk and 
Superintendent of Buildings, Private Secretary, Super- 
intendent and Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, 
Appointment Clerk, Attorney in Charge of Pardons, 
Disbursing Clerk, Attorney in Charge of Titles, Assist- 
ant Examiners, Chief of Division of Investigation, 
Chief of Division of Accounts, Chief Bookkeeper, Libra- 
rian, stenographers, clerks, etc. 

The second division consists of the department soli- 
citors and attorneys. In Washington there are the 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 149 

Solicitor for the Post-Office Department, the Assistant 
Attorney -General for the Department of the Interior, 
the solicitors and assistants for the Departments of 
State, the Treasury, and Commerce, and the Solicitor 
of Internal Revenue. In New York there is an Assist- 
ant Attorney-General in charge of the Customs Divi- 
sion, with one Deputy Assistant Attorney-General, 
five attorneys, and seven special attorneys. 

The third division of the department comprises the 
eighty-seven district attorneys, one hundred and sev- 
enty-five assistant district attorneys (approximately), 
and one hundred (approximately) special assistant 
attorneys in the various parts of the United States. ^ 
The Attorney-General, as head of the Department of 
Justice and chief law officer of the Government, repre- 
sents the United States in all matters involving legal 
questions. He gives advice and opinions, when they 
are required by the President or by the heads of the 
other executive departments, on questions of law aris- 
ing in the administration of their respective depart- 
ments, and appears personally in the Supreme Court 
of the United States in cases of especial gravity and 
importance. He exercises a general superintendence 
and direction over United States attorneys and mar- 
shals in all judicial districts in the United States and 
Territories, and provides special counsel for the United 
States whenever required by any department of the 
Government. 

The Solicitor-General assists the Attorney-General 
^ Register of the Department of Justice, 1915. 



150 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

in the performance of his departmental duties, and by 
special provision of law, in case of a vacancy in the 
office of Attorney-General, or of his absence or dis- 
ability, exercises all those duties. Under the direction 
of the Attorney-General, he has special charge of the 
business of the Government in the Supreme Court of 
the United States, and is assisted in the conduct and 
argument of cases therein by the Assistant Attorneys- 
General. He also, with the approval of the Attorney- 
General, prepares opinions rendered to the President 
and the heads of the executive departments, and con- 
fers with and directs the law officers of the Govern- 
ment throughout the country in the performance of 
their duties. When the Attorney-General so directs, 
any case in which the United States is interested, in 
any court of the United States, may be conducted and 
argued by the Solicitor-General, and he may be sent 
by the Attorney-General to attend to the interests of 
the United States in any state court, or elsewhere. 

The Assistant to the Attorney-General, popularly 
known as the "Chief Trust Buster," has special charge 
of all suits and other matters arising under the Federal 
Anti-Trust and Interstate Commerce Laws, and has 
under his direction a large number of special assistants 
to the Attorney-General who have personal direction 
of the big anti-trust cases. 

The several Assistant Attorneys-General assist the 
Attorney-General in the performance of his duties, 
and especially in the argument of cases in the Supreme 
Court and in the preparation of legal opinions. One 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 151 

Assistant Attorney-General is charged with defending 
suits in the Court of Claims and one with the defense 
of Indian depredation claims, while another is in charge 
of the interests of the Government in all matters of 
reappraisement and classification of imported goods 
in litigation before the several boards of United States 
General Appraisers. 

The Assistant Attorneys-General and the solicitors 
for the several executive departments, under the pro- 
visions of sections 349-50, Revised Statutes, exercise 
their functions under the supervision and control of 
the Attorney-General. They are the Assistant Attor- 
ney-General for the Department of the Interior, the 
Solicitor for the Department of State, the Solicitor for 
the Treasury, the Solicitor of Internal Revenue, the 
Solicitor for the Post-Ofiice Department, and the Soli- 
citor of the Department of Commerce. 

The Assistant Attorney-General for the Interior 
Department is the chief law officer of that department. 
All appeals from the General Land Office are sent to his 
office for consideration. Oral arguments are heard by 
him in the more important cases, or by brief; and deci- 
sions are prepared under his supervision for the signa- 
ture of the Secretary or First Assistant Secretary, as 
the case may be. He is aided in this and his other work 
by a number of assistant attorneys. 

The Solicitor for the Department of State advises 
the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries upon questions 
of municipal and international law referred to him, 
passes upon claims of citizens of the United States 



152 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

against foreign Governments, claims of subjects or citi- 
zens of foreign Governments against the United States, 
and upon applications for the extradition of criminals. 
The Assistant Solicitor, who acts as Solicitor in the 
absence of the latter, has general charge of extradition 
and citizenship matters. 

The Solicitor of the Treasury is charged with the 
supervision of much of the litigation of the Govern- 
ment and gives the necessary instructions to United 
States attorneys, marshals, and clerks of courts in pro- 
ceedings appertaining to the suits under his superintend- 
ence. Among his other duties he makes recommen- 
dations on offers of compromise (except in post-office 
cases and in internal-revenue cases before judgment), 
approves the bonds of United States assistant treas- 
urers, collectors of internal revenue, and department 
disbursing clerks, and examines all ojfficial bonds filed 
in the Treasury Department. He also issues distress 
warrants against delinquent collectors and other officers 
receiving public money, and, as the law officer of the 
Treasury Department, gives legal advice to the Secre- 
tary and other officers. 

A Solicitor of Internal Revenue was added to the 
Internal Revenue Office corps by the Act of July 13, 
1866,1 but by the Act of June 22, 1870,2 organizing the 
Department of Justice, the Solicitor was formally 
transferred to that department. He is the law officer 
and legal adviser of the Commissioner of Internal Reve- 
nue. The only duties of his of which mention is made 
1 14 U.S. Stat. L. 170. "■ 17 U.S. Stat. L. 162. 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 153 

by the law are in connection with internal revenue com- 
promise cases. ^ 

The Solicitor of the Department of Commerce, as 
the legal adviser for the Secretary and the chiefs of the 
various bureaus, prepares and examines all contracts 
and bonds entered into or required by the department, 
and renders such legal services in connection with mat- 
ters arising in the administrative work as may be re- 
quired of him by the Attorney-General. 

The Public Lands Division was created by the 
Attorney-General November 16, 1909. To it are as- 
signed all suits and proceedings concerning the enforce- 
ment of the public land law, including suits or proceed- 
ings to set aside conveyances of allotted lands. The 
duties of the disbursing clerk of the department show 
the extent of its functions. He disburses funds from 
more than forty appropriations under the direction of 
the Attorney-General, including the salaries of the 
justices of the Supreme Court, the judges of the other 
United States Courts, the United States attorneys, 
marshals, and other court officials, and of the officials 
of the department proper. He also disburses the con- 
tingent expenses of the department, and other miscel- 
laneous appropriations. 

The superintendent of prisons has charge of all mat- 
ters relating to United States prisons and prisoners, 
including their support in both state and federar peni- 
tentiaries, in reform schools, and in county jails, and 
is ex-officio president of the boards of parole for the 
1 U.S. Rev. Stat., sec. 3229. 



154 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

United States penitentiaries and the president of the 
board of parole for United States prisoners in each 
State or county institution used for their confinement. 

The appointment clerk has charge of all matters 
relating to applications, recommendations, and ap- 
pointments, and prepares commissions and appoint- 
ments for the officers and employees of the department 
in Washington, and for United States judges, attor- 
neys, and marshals, and other officers under the de- 
partment. There are also the attorney in charge of 
pardons and the attorney in charge of titles of lands 
belonging to or sought to be acquired by the Gov- 
ernment for public purposes. There are two remain- 
ing divisions which require notice. The Division of 
Accounts examines accounts payable from judiciary 
appropriations, including accounts of United States 
marshals, attorneys, clerks, and commissioners. The 
Division of Investigation has general supervision of 
the examination of the offices and records of the federal 
court officials throughout the United States, and di- 
rects the work of all the special agents and accountants 
of the department employed to collect evidence or to 
make investigations of any kind. 

The Department of Justice stands in the same rela- 
tion to the United States as the law department of any 
great corporation stands to the corporation. It handles 
all the law matters of the United States Government, 
both civil and criminal. The civil matters of the Gov- 
ernment are much the same as the ordinary business 
questions presented to the law department of any great 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 155 

corporation, — suits on surety bonds, suits for breach 
of contracts for public buildings, and all manner of civil 
cases. Wherever a right of the United States or one 
of its criminal laws is violated, the department takes 
charge of the claim of the Government or prosecutes 
the offender. Certain classes of offenses may cause both 
civil and criminal procedure on the part of the United 
States, as in the case of prosecutions under the Sherman 
Anti-Trust Act. This act provides that where a com- 
bination exists in restraint of trade unlawfully, the 
United States may institute civil proceedings to dis- 
solve the combination, and at the same time may pro- 
ceed criminally against the individual offenders. An 
important example of both civil and criminal prosecu- 
tions is found in the cases against the so-called "Bath- 
Tub Trust." It was alleged by the Government that a 
combination of individuals and corporations had com- 
bined illegally to raise prices. A civil proceeding having 
for its purpose, the dissolution of the combination was 
instituted in the United States Circuit Court for Mary- 
land, while at the same time criminal proceedings by 
way of indictment were brought in the Eastern Dis- 
trict of Michigan. The civil proceedings terminated in 
the dissolution of the combination. The criminal pro- 
ceedings resulted in a disagreement of the trial jury. 
Violations of the customs laws and of the internal- 
revenue laws also give rise to both civil and criminal 
proceedings. 

The criminal work of the Department of Justice is 
by far the most unique and interesting. The United 



156 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

States has a Criminal Code which was re-codified De- 
cember 1, 1909. In this Criminal Code most of the 
crimes against the United States are dealt with, but 
outside of the code are numerous important laws, 
among which are the so-called White-Slave Act and 
the Pure Food and Drug Act. 

It must be remembered that the Department of Jus- 
tice deals only with violations of federal laws. It has 
nothing to do with local offenses, which are taken care 
of by the authorities of the various States. Murder, 
arson, rape, and the usual felonies and misdemeanors 
are taken care of, save in certain unusual circumstances, 
by the prosecuting attorneys of cities or counties who 
are state officers. It will be interesting, in order that 
the character of federal cases may be understood, to 
look at the headings of some of the chapters of the 
Criminal Code. The offenses are classified in the chap- 
ters according to their nature; for instance, offenses 
against the existence of the Government are treason, 
inciting or engaging in rebellion or insurrection, crimi- 
nal correspondence with foreign Governments, sedi- 
tious conspiracy, etc. Offenses against other nations 
are mostly those which present violations of neutrality, 
such as arming vessels against people at peace with 
the United States, or enlisting or equipping expeditions 
against such people. There are laws to protect the elec- 
tive franchise and civil rights of citizens. A very in- 
teresting decision in reference to this class of cases was 
one recently rendered by the United States District 
Court for Maryland, holding that the use of trick bal- 



WAR, NAVY, JUSTICE 157 

lots in elections, with the purpose to make it more 
difficult for negro voters to exercise their right of fran- 
chise, came under one of these sections. In this par- 
ticular case the ballots were so arranged that the name 
of the favored candidate appeared always in the first 
place, while the names of the other three candidates 
appeared sometimes second, sometimes third, and 
sometimes fourth. 

The class of offenses, such as bribery of an officer of 
the United States, injuries to fortifications, harbor 
defenses, etc., stealing public property, falsely pretend- 
ing to be an officer of the United States, are all classed 
as offenses against the operation of the Government. 
Then there are a number of laws to prevent perjury 
in trials in the United States Courts, bribery of jurors, 
judges, or witnesses, and other offenses, in order that 
public justice may not be interfered with. Offenses 
against the currency include counterfeiting bank-notes 
and coins and similar abuses of the currency. A most 
important class of cases arises under the laws for the 
protection of the postal service. Offenses against for- 
eign and interstate commerce, against the slave trade 
and peonage, and even the old-fashioned offense of 
piracy are dealt with at times by the Department of 
Justice. 



CHAPTER IX 

FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS "IN 
PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE" 

THE DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, 
AND LABOR 

In his third annual address to Congress on October 
25, 1791, Washington said: "The completion of the 
census of the inhabitants for which provision was made 
by law has been duly notified (excepting one instance 
in which the return has been informal, and another in 
which it has been omitted or miscarried), and the re- 
turns of the officers who were charged with this duty, 
which will be laid before you, will give you the pleasing 
assurance that the present population of the United 
States borders on 4,000,000 persons." ^ The United 
States to-day has about 101,208,315 inhabitants, and 
the problems of promoting the general welfare are very 
different from what they were in the days of Washing- 
ton's first Administration. The Departments of Agri- 
culture, Commerce, and Labor are the three depart- 
ments most nearly concerned with the general welfare 
of the material interests of the nation, and we will 
briefly note the functions of these departments. 

In Switzerland there is one executive department 
which deals with commerce, industry, and agriculture. 
1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. I, p. 106. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 159 

In France and in the United States there are three sep- 
arate departments dealing in a general way with these 
same matters, and designated the Departments of 
Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor. An examination 
of the duties assigned to these various departments, 
in connection with those of the Department of the In- 
terior, forces us to the conclusion that the distribution 
of executive functions between the Departments of the 
Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor in the 
Federal Government is not very logical. The work of 
the Weather Bureau, the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
of Plant Industry, of Chemistry, of Soils, of Entomol- 
ogy, of Biological Surveys, of Crop Estimates, of Mar- 
kets and Rural Organization, and the Office of Experi- 
ment Stations are all part of the functions which one 
would properly expect to be under the supervision of 
the Department of Agriculture. The Forestry Service 
and the Office of Public Roads are also in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, but they might just as well be in 
the Interior Department, or perhaps in the Post-Office 
Department. Care of the nation's forests would seem 
to belong to the Department of the Interior, and as to 
public roads, the Postmaster-General is claiming more 
and more a power of supervision. Both the Office of 
Public Roads and the Forest Service, however, have dis- 
tinct educational aspects which might very properly 
place them under the Bureau of Education in the In- 
terior Department. In the Department of Commerce, 
which we shall also consider in this chapter, the divi- 
sions are of two sorts. The Bureaus of Foreign and 



160 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Domestic Commerce, of Standards, of Fisheries, of 
Lighthouses, and of Navigation, as well as the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey and Steamboat Inspection Serv- 
ice, all relate to commerce. The Bureau of Corpora- 
tions, now merged in the Federal Trade Commission, 
dealt with a different class of matters from those above 
enumerated; but corporations, especially in reference 
to interstate commerce, are commercial, and there- 
fore the Department of Commerce was as appropriate 
a place for the Bureau of Corporations as any other 
of the executive departments. The Bureau of the Cen- 
sus is the last of the divisions of the Department of 
Commerce. It would seem that the census might more 
properly have remained in the Interior Department, 
since it concerns the personnel of the citizens of the 
nation, or perhaps have been placed in the Department 
of Labor, whose Bureaus of Immigration and Natural- 
ization also deal with the personnel of the United 
States. The "General Welfare" departments are those 
of Agriculture and of Commerce, and the Department 
of Labor, which last, in addition to immigration and 
naturalization, deals with labor statistics as to children, 
both of which subjects are closely allied to the census. 
From this summary of the functions of the Depart- 
ments of Agriculture, of Commerce, and of Labor, we 
can see that each of these departments deals primarily 
with the matters denoted by its name, that the func- 
tions of each, in many instances, refer to the same class 
of matters, and that there is no very strict rule of clas- 
sification underlying the distribution of their functions. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 161 

In his first report to the President, in 1849, Thomas 
Ewing, Secretary of the Interior, recommended the 
organization of a Bureau of Agriculture. From 1839 
there had existed an Agricultural Division in the Patent 
Office, and appropriations had been made for the col- 
lection of agricultural statistics including the purchase 
of seeds, which remains to-day as one of the best- 
known functions of the Department of Agriculture to 
the general mass of American citizens. We have already 
noted that the agricultural interests of the Government 
were for a time one of the miscellaneous cares of the 
Secretary of the Interior. By the Act of May 16, 1862,^ 
however, the Department of Agriculture was estab- 
lished as an independent bureau or office. It was not, 
however, at that time, one of the great executive de- 
partments presided over by a member of the Cabinet, 
but in 1889 it was raised to the rank of an executive 
department and its chief official became a member of 
the President's Cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture. 
It is a curious coincidence that in the same year, 1889, 
a new Department of State having similar duties was 
created in the English Government. The Board of 
Agriculture, to which I have referred as one of the five 
principal boards in the executive department of the 
English Government, was created to attend to matters 
that were transferred to it from various commercial 
and other bodies connected with the English Govern- 
ment. The Board of Agriculture in England has to do 
with various matters relating to the ancient land ten- 
1 12 U.S. Stat. L. 387. 



162 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

ures and allotments to laborers. "The control of fish- 
eries, the promotion of agriculture, and the prevention 
of contagious diseases among animals are also placed 
under its care," writes Mr. Lowell, "and it has been 
given power or rather authority to muzzle dogs and 
destroy the Colorado beetle." ^ Fisheries, with us, are 
under the supervision of the Department of Commerce, 
but the promotion of agriculture and the prevention 
of contagious diseases among animals are among the 
principal functions of the Department of Agriculture. 

There are twelve principal subdivisions of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, all of which are under the 
general supervision of the Secretary. All these twelve 
subdivisions relate, more or less, to agriculture, but, as 
I have pointed out, the Forest Service and the Office 
of Public Roads concern also other departments of 
the Government. There is no question, however, that 
both the Forest Service and the Office of Public Roads 
exercise very important duties in reference to the gen- 
eral welfare of the nation. We will note the duties of 
these last two divisions, however, before examining the 
more purely agricultural divisions of the department. 

The Forest Service has entire charge of the National 
Forests of the United States, which are in themselves a 
great asset and a very important resource of the nation, 
not only for material products, but in relation to cli- 
matic conditions. The Forest Service was instituted 
for the purpose of studying forest conditions and 
methods of forest utilization. It investigates the vari- 
^ The Government of England, vol. i, p. 111. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 163 

;)us properties of different kinds of woods and studies 
the methods of manufacturing and making salable the 
products of the forest. At the close of the year 1914, 
exclusive of land not the property of the Government, 
the area in forests was shghtly over 165,000,000 acres. 
The National Forests have an immense property value, 
and there are, in addition, privately owned forests, the 
value of whose annual production reaches an enormous 
sum. On the continent of Europe, especially in Ger- 
many, one finds forests, planted and tended with the 
same care as a potato patch, which produce large an- 
nual revenues. Lumbering in the United States in the 
past has involved enormous waste, and even at the 
present time little of the private timber is handled in 
such a way as to protect a future crop. One of the duties 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry is to improve the 
meat supply of the country. The public grazing lands 
in the United States, part of which are in the National 
Forests, embrace about 300,000,000 acres. The Forest 
Service has inaugurated a system by which annual 
grazing permits are required before the grazing lands 
in the National Forests can be used, and with the very 
low grazing fees now charged, the Government receives 
over a million dollars a year from this source of reve- 
nue alone. While the chief task of the Department of 
Agriculture in reference to forestry relates to the ad- 
ministration of the National Forests, the Forest Serv- 
ice devotes itself in every way to the improvement of 
timber and forest conditions throughout the nation. 
" In the same manner as the Forest Service studies 



164 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

everything relating to the general welfare of forestry- 
interests in the United States, so the Office of Public 
Roads studies systems of road-management and meth- 
ods of road-building. It details engineers to various 
parts of the country to assist the officials of States, 
or counties, or townships in building model roads, and 
it builds in various parts of the country experimental 
roads in order to test the value of various road-building 
materials. I have already pointed out that it conducts 
a one-year post-graduate course in highway engineering 
and it also investigates one of the most important ques- 
tions which to-day confront road-builders, that of the 
comparative effect of motors and horse traffic on roads. 
Rural transportation is at the present time in the pro- 
cess of revolution. Mechanically driven vehicles are 
rapidly taking the place of wagons drawn by horse or 
mule power. In the red-clay districts of the Carolinas 
and Georgia, the "horseless carriage," as the mule 
team is sometimes called, is a necessity because of 
the heavy roads which make motor vehicles impossible; 
but all through the country are rapidly being built 
improved roads of a modern type, and the motor-driven 
vehicle, which is yearly becoming less expensive, is 
gradually becoming the prevailing means of transpor- 
tation in the rural communities. The road, however, 
which is best suited to motor-driven vehicles is danger- 
ous and never well suited to horses or other animals, 
and the Office of Public Roads cooperates with state 
highway officials in showing model types of roads, cul- 
verts, bridges, and road machines which can best pro- 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 165 

mote rural transportation. The office also cooperates 
with the Post-Office Department in carrying out the 
duties of that department relating to the improvement 
of post-roads. There is a director of public roads, to- 
gether with various officials in charge of construction, 
road economics, roads in National Parks, and forests 
and other matters relating to the office. 

From the point of view of this book the main work 
of the Department of Agriculture may be very briefly 
summarized. Beside the Forest Service and the Office 
of Public Roads, there are ten bureaus or offices which 
deal with essentially agricultural matters. The state of 
the weather is important to everybody for all purposes, 
but it is especially important to the agriculturist. The 
Weather Bureau attempts to forecast the weather and 
it issues warnings as to floods and frosts and cold waves 
and storms. It also keeps a watchful eye over the 
weather for the benefit of commerce and navigation, 
and through its telegraph and telephone lines gives ad- 
vice to mariners. It can hardly be said that the Weather 
Bureau performs functions which belong exclusively 
to agriculture, since the matters with which it deals 
relate so much to the general life of the people of the 
country. The Department of Justice frequently finds 
it necessary to call upon the Weather Bureau for its 
records of the weather on certain occasions in reference 
to pending litigation, and the work that the bureau 
does and the instruments it uses in taking meteorolog- 
ical and other observations in reference to the weather 
and the climate are of a most intricate nature. 



166 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

The Bureau of Animal Industry and that of Plant 
Industry indicate the sort of duties they perform by 
their names. The Bureau of Animal Industry fre- 
quently comes prominently before the notice of the 
public through the newspapers in matters relating to 
the diseases of animals and the inspection and quaran- 
tine of live stock suffering from such diseases. The 
shipment of spoiled or diseased meat is prohibited by 
the laws of the United States, and the inspection of meat 
and the food products from meat come under the juris- 
diction of this bureau. The Bureau of Plant Industry 
is rather more of a scientific bureau. Its work is di- 
vided into twenty-nine groups, over each of which is 
placed a technically trained officer who studies plant 
life in all of its various forms in its relations to agricul- 
ture, and the Government is doing a most important 
work for the agricultural interests of the country in the 
studying of methods of exterminating the numerous 
enemies of plants, in devising better fertilizers, and in 
other ways assisting to improve the varied matters with 
which agriculture in so large a country as ours of 
necessity deals. Tobacco, cotton, fruit diseases, corn 
investigations, and all sorts of matters of a similar na- 
ture are among the duties of this bureau. 

The Bureau of Chemistry, the Bureau of Soils, and 
the Bureau of Entomology all in a like manner conduct 
studies and experiments for the benefit of agricultural 
interests. A great many cases under the jurisdiction 
of the Department of Justice arise from violations of 
the Food and Drug Acts, by which the people of the 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 167 

United States are protected from poisonous or fraud- 
ulent foods or drugs, and the Bureau of Chemistry is 
chiefly concerned with the analytical work and inves- 
tigations necessary in connection with the enforcement 
of these laws. In the same way, the Bureau of Biologi- 
cal Survey has to do with carrying into effect the fed- 
eral laws protecting game, and in recent years the 
Federal Government has assumed the protection of 
the game of the country in certain particulars. 

There is also in this department the Bureau of Crop 
Estimates and the Office of Experiment Stations, which 
latter manages experiment stations in Alaska, Hawaii, 
Porto Rico, Guam, and throughout the various parts 
of the United States themselves. There is also the 
Office of Markets and Rural Organization which makes 
a special study of methods of packing and shipping 
agricultural products and the commercial side of agri- 
culture. It also conducts investigations as to methods 
of rural credits and insurance, and even takes up social 
and educational activities in rural communities. 

Unless one should desire to go very deeply into the 
methods of the Department of Agriculture as to the 
work of its various bureaus, it is only necessary to say 
that the department, in a most efficient and thor- 
oughly up-to-date manner, investigates, experiments, 
and publishes every sort of thing that is of interest to 
agriculture in its broadest sense. If the San Jose scale 
attacks your fruit trees, you may write to the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. If your neighbor has in an ad- 
joining pasture to yours a tuberculous cow, you may 



168 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

secure protection by advising the Department of Agri- 
culture. If you desire to raise a special sort of turnip, 
again you may advise the Department of Agriculture. 
If it has not the seed for such a turnip as you wish, its 
experts will attempt to secure for you the sort of tur- 
nip you desire. The way in which the Department of 
Agriculture comes most closely in touch, however, with 
the non-farming element of the nation is that it yearly 
issues millions of bushels of seeds. A certain number of 
these seeds are allotted to each Congressman, and very 
many Congressmen annually flood their districts with 
seeds which they hope will bear a speedy fruit in the 
shape of votes at the next congressional election. 

The fact that the thing most generally known in refer- 
ence to the Department of Agriculture is the free dis- 
tribution of seeds is a striking illustration of the pre- 
vailing ignorance of our people as to the enormous 
resources of the United States and the importance of 
the functions of the Department of Agriculture. There 
are about 6,000,000 farming families in the United 
States, and it is primarily their business to feed the rest 
of the country. What the United States eats and what 
it produces for others to eat every year is amazing. 
The annual production of the dairies in butter, milk, 
and cheese has a value of approximately $600,000,000. 
The fruit orchards of the United States annually yield 
more than $140,000,000, while the value of the annual 
production of vegetables alone is in excess of $400,- 
000,000. In these days of automobiles, unless one hap- 
pens to keep a horse, hay and forage do not seem to 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 169 

be very important matters, but the annual production 
of the United States of these two agricultural products 
exceeds in value $800,000,000. The annual value of the 
poultry products alone aggregates half a billion dollars, 
which is about one half of the value of the annual cot- 
ton production.! While there has been in the past 
years an enormous increase in such products as wheat, 
fruits, dairy products, and poultry, there has been an 
absolute decrease in the annual production of such 
important food products as corn and meats, and the 
Department of Agriculture, in every possible way, is 
attempting to point out to the farmers of the United 
States the profits to be derived from increasing pro- 
duction in such matters and better methods of farm 
economics and placing their goods in the markets. 
The more one studies the far-reaching and important 
functions of the Department of Agriculture, the more 
one realizes the enormous value to the nation of the 
functions it performs. When we remember that in 
1913 more than $60,000,000 worth of hogs were de- 
stroyed by hog cholera, and that the cattle tick causes 
an annual loss from $40,000,000 to $100,000,000, we 
can grasp the enormous economic advantages of the 
endeavors of the Bureau of Animal Industry; but these 
are only part of the important functions of the depart- 
ment. The people of this nation are spending annually 
about $200,000,000 for roads and the department is 
rendering most valuable assistance in the educational 
and construction work connected with these roads. The 
1 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 191 1^, pp. 6 and 12. 



170 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

subject of rural credits is a most important one to 
the agricultural interests and therefore to the whole 
people. 

The American farmers are, as a class, said to be 
more prosperous than any other farming class in the 
world, but the methods which have been applied to the 
great industries of the country are only now beginning 
to be applied to the rural life of the nation. The De- 
partment of Agriculture, through the Office of Markets 
and Rural Organization, and the Office of Farm Man- 
agement, is doing a most important work in assisting 
the agricultural interests of the country to place them- 
selves upon the highly organized and remunerative 
basis upon which our manufacturing industries have 
been for so long a time. 

The rapid growth of the department since its organ- 
ization has been phenomenal. In 1914, Congress au- 
thorized the Secretary to prepare a plan for reorgan- 
izing, redirecting, and systematizing the work of the 
department, and in his last report to the President, the 
Secretary of Agriculture made certain important rec- 
ommendations along these lines. In recent years the 
problem of the congestion of cities and the desertion of 
rural communities has been presented to the American 
people in many forms In the last fifteen years, the 
population has increased by 23,000,000, of which only 
about 6,000,000 appear as an increase in the strictly 
rural districts. The Department of Agriculture is using 
every possible effort for the improvement of rural life 
in all of its aspects, and is thus doing not only ex- 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 171 

tremely important work for the general welfare of the 
nation, but work absolutely necessary to its integrity. , 

The two most recent executive departments of the 
Federal Government are the Department of Commerce 
and the Department of Labor. The Department of 
Commerce and Labor was created by Act of Congress 
in 1903, and the Department of Labor was carved 
from it in 1913. The Department of Commerce and 
Labor, before the Department of Labor was created, 
had in it the following bureaus: Corporations, Manu- 
factures, Labor, Lighthouses, Census, Statistics, Fish- 
eries, Navigation, Immigration and Naturalization, 
and Standards. It also had charge of the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey and Steamboat Inspection Service. 
Of the above-named bureaus, those of the Census, 
Lighthouses, Fisheries, Navigation, and Standards 
are all in the present Department of Commerce, as are 
also the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Steamboat 
Inspection Service. There is no longer a Bureau of 
Manufactures, but in the Department of Commerce is 
a Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, which 
performs the duties which were formerly in the prov- 
ince of the Bureau of Manufactures with certain other 
duties which have been since added. Of the remaining 
bureaus of the old Department of Commerce and 
Labor, the old Bureau of Immigration and Naturaliza- 
tion now exists in the Department of Labor as the inde- 
pendent Bureaus of Immigration and of Naturaliza- 
tion and the old Bureau of Labor and the Bureau of 



172 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Statistics are merged into the present Bureau of Labor 
Statistics in the Department of Labor. There is a fourth 
bureau in that department called the Children's Bureau, 
and this one bureau is really the only division belong- 
ing to the two existing departments in addition to 
the divisions of the old Department of Commerce and 
Labor. 

The Secretary of Commerce at the close of the year 
1914 supervised the Bureau of the Census, with its 
highly technical organization, and the Bureau of Cor- 
porations which was almost an independent division 
of the Administration. This latter bureau, by the Act 
of Congress of September 26, 1914, providing for a 
Federal Trade Commission, was merged into this 
commission immediately upon its organization, the 
above act providing that the Bureau of Corporations 
should then cease to exist and that all of its functions 
should be exercised by the Federal Trade Commission. 
We will consider the work of the Bureau of Corpora- 
tions when we examine the Federal Trade Commis- 
sion. The remaining divisions of the department pri- 
marily concern commerce. The Coast and Geodetic 
Survey and the Steamboat Inspection Service are both 
important divisions. The Bureaus of Foreign and Do- 
mestic Commerce, of Navigation, and of Lighthouses 
relate specifically to commerce, while the Bureaus of 
Standards and of Fisheries relate less directly to the 
same subject. We will consider the census before tak- 
ing up the divisions which relate primarily to the com- 
mercial functions of the department. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 173 

The Bureau of the Census formerly occupied a sep- 
arate building from that occupied by the majority of 
the other bureaus of the department. It is now located 
in the main building of the department, and it is the 
urgent recommendation of the Secretary of Commerce 
that a suitable building be erected as soon as possible 
to accommodate all the divisions of the department. 
Such a movement is entirely in accord with the proper 
coordination of the work of the department, which, at 
the present time, is hampered by the scattered and semi- 
independent condition of many of its bureaus. Libra- 
ries were formerly maintained by each of the separate 
bureaus, but as a step toward the proper consolidation 
of the department, the library of the Bureau of the 
Census has recently been incorporated with the libra- 
ries of the other bureaus and the department now pos- 
sesses one general library. The necessity for a proper 
census was recognized at the beginning of the Federal 
Government, and in Washington's first Administration 
a census was made. The Bureau of the Census collects 
and digests information, not only as to the number and 
character of the inhabitants of the nation, but conducts 
highly scientific researches into all manner of questions 
relating to their general interests. From time to time it 
publishes bulletins upon such subjects as "National 
and State Indebtedness and Funds and Investments," 
"Taxation and Revenue Systems of State and Local 
Governments," "National and State Revenues and 
Expenditures," "County and Municipal Indebted- 
ness," "Central Electric Light and Power Stations and 



174 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Street and Electric Railroads," "Telephones and Tele- 
graphs." It also prepares statistics in reference to 
occupations, agriculture, and various other national 
interests. Early in August, 1914, the bureau began the 
preparation of a special report relating to negroes in 
the United States, and it has recently issued a report 
on Indians, together with bulletins on the Chinese and 
Japanese. Under authority of an Act of Congress of 
April 80, 1912, the Bureau makes semiannual collec- 
tions and publications of statistics as to tobacco, and 
it performs the same functions in reference to cotton 
and other staple products. In other words, the Bureau 
of the Census is the department of the Federal Execu- 
tive for obtaining information on all subjects of interest 
to the general welfare of the nation and of putting this 
information into such form as will give it the greatest 
amount of practical value. 

The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce is 
charged with fostering the more strictly commercial 
interests of American merchants and manufacturers 
and its duties bring it in close touch with the State 
Department. The work abroad performed by the de- 
partment through this bureau is through the consular 
service and through commercial attaches and through 
commercial agents. The commercial agent is the " trav- 
eling man" of the department. He is charged with 
the investigation of a single matter or a group of allied 
interests, and in his study of them visits the various 
markets of the world and reports to the department 
upon opportunities there existing for American goods. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 175 

The force of commercial attaches works in conjunction 
with the permanent consular service for the promotion 
of American commerce. In order to perform its duties 
most beneficially to the business interests of the coun- 
try, a branch office of the bureau was opened in New 
York, and the success of that office led to the institu- 
tion of similar offices in Chicago, San Francisco, New 
Orleans, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, and St. Louis, and 
new branch offices are being from time to time estab- 
lished. A special fund has been appropriated for pro- 
moting commerce in Central and South America, and 
by these various means the bureau works for the ex- 
tension of American commerce. 

The Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Redfield, in his 
Report for 1914,^ very aptly says, "Practically every 
industry has its units, its special methods of measure- 
ment, and measuring instruments designed for every 
kind of need." Ancient laws of England still exist for 
the protection of the public from false weights and 
measures, and the false bottom in the peck measure 
to-day, as of yore, is still a source of apprehension to 
the housewife. The primary function of the Bureau 
of Standards is the stimulation of interest in honest 
weights and measures in daily trade, but the bureau 
performs much wider and more important functions. 
In all industries standardization has been and is one of 
the most important aims in modern efficiency. There is 
a federal law requiring the quantity label on package 
goods, which is enforced by the Treasury and Agri- 
^ Page 55. 



176 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

cultural Departments, and in the carrying-out of this 
law the bureau cooperates, but it also performs highly 
important and scientific functions in such matters as 
the devising of standards for length, mass, capacity, 
heat, light, and electricity. It has evolved a system of 
measuring certain wave-lengths of light with the high- 
est possible precision, and its testing laboratory per- 
formed about one hundred thousand tests in the past 
year for the Government Departments alone. Its work, 
however, is not confined to Federal Government needs. 
States and cities, public-service corporations and com- 
missions, industrial laboratories and plants, commer- 
cial houses engaged in foreign trade, consulting engi- 
neers, educational institutions, and the general public 
all avail themselves of the agencies offered to the nation 
by the bureau. 

In 1913 the fishing industry of Alaska gave employ- 
ment to more than 21,700 persons, including over 4000 
natives. The investment in fishing property exceeded 
$37,000,000, of which $34,953,000 represented the sal- 
mon industry. The catch of salmon aggregated 59,- 
915,000 fish, from which there were prepared 3,739,000 
cases of canned fish valued at $13,581,000, and mis- 
cellaneous products valued at $917,600. This is only a 
portion of the vast fishing industries of the United 
States, the income from which annually amounts to 
millions of dollars. All matters relating to these enor- 
mous sources of national wealth are under the direc- 
tion and fostering care of the Bureau of Fisheries. Its 
fish-cultural activities are conducted in thirty-four 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 177 

States, the Territory of Alaska, and the District of 
Columbia, at thirty-six permanent hatcheries and 
ninety-four auxiliary and egg-collecting stations, and 
its marine laboratories at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 
and Beaufort, North Carolina, and the fresh-water 
laboratory on the Mississippi River at Fairport, Iowa, 
have been actively utilized for investigations, re- 
searches, and experiments of either immediate or pro- 
spective value to the fishing industries. The Alaskan 
fur-seal industry is also under its direct supervision. 
The enemies of the oyster and the destroyers of the seal 
alike receive the watchful care of this important bu- 
reau, which protects a very important source of food 
and revenue of the whole nation. 

The Bureau of Lighthouses, the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey, the Bureau of Navigation, and the Steamboat 
Inspection Service are the remaining divisions of the 
department. On June 30, 1914, there were 5542 per- 
sons employed in the Lighthouse Service. The Coast 
and Geodetic Survey is the greatest service of its kind 
in the world. There are several times as many miles of 
coast in Alaska alone as in the entire United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland. The surveying and chart- 
ing of the Philippines is by itself a far greater task than 
is imposed upon France on all her own marine borders 
in Europe. The surveying of the Hawaiian Islands, of 
Samoa, Guam, and Porto Rico is a greater task than 
is that of like work upon the European coast of Ger- 
many. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, 
318,094,347 passengers were transported on those ves- 



178 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

sels which are required by law to report the number 
of passengers carried. The total number of accidents 
which resulted in the loss of life during this period was 
232, and the number of lives lost was 582, including 
passengers and crew. The total documented merchant 
shipping of the United States on June 30, 1914, com- 
prised 26,943 vessels of 7,928,688 gross tons, and the 
receipts from tonnage duties were $1,310,759.03. Over 
all these commercial matters the department exercises 
more or less direction and supervision through the 
above-named bureaus. It is their duty to see that the 
navigation laws are enforced, that the dangers of the 
coast are known to the mariner, and that those who 
go down to the sea in ships may do so with the greatest 
possible safety. The United States is one of the three 
leading commercial nations, and it is not surprising to 
find that the cost of maintaining its Department of 
Commerce for the year ending June 30, 1914, amounted 
to about $11,500,000. 

A study of the functions of the Departments of Agri- 
culture and of Commerce will do more than any other 
one thing to convince the citizens of this nation that 
the federal service requires the highest possible techni- 
cal and scientific training for the proper performance 
of the vital matters relating to the general welfare con- 
ducted through these two great departments. 

The Department of Labor is the third of the depart- 
ments which we are considering in this chapter. As I 
have already pointed out, this department is another 
of the offshoots of the old Department of the Interior. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 179 

By the Act of June 27, 1884,^ a Bureau of Labor was 
established in the Department of the Interior and its 
commissioner was required to collect information upon 
the subject of labor, its relation to capital, the hours of 
labor, and the earnings of laboring men and women, 
and their material, social, intellectual, and moral pros- 
perity. We have ah-eady noted the transfer of this bu- 
reau to the old Department of Commerce and Labor, 
and have discussed the severance of the present divi- 
sions of the Department of Labor when that depart- 
ment was created in 1913. Its four chief divisions are 
the Bureaus of Immigration, of Naturalization, of Labor 
Statistics, and the Children's Bureau. While the work 
of all of these bureaus relates in a general way to labor, 
it also relates more specifically to the personnel of the 
inhabitants and citizens of the United States, and logi- 
cally these bureaus might just as well be in the De- 
partment of the Interior or of Commerce. These de- 
partments, however, are already overburdened, and the 
creation of the Department of Labor is the most re- 
cent illustration of the natural expansion of the Federal 
Government. The policy of the department is expressed 
by Secretary Wilson. In his Report for the year ending 
June 30, 1914, the second annual report for the depart- 
ment, he says: "It was created in the interest of the 
welfare of all the wage-earners of the United States, 
whether organized or unorganized. Inasmuch, how- 
ever, as it is ordinarily only through organization that 
the many in any class or of any interest can become 
1 23 U.S. Stat. L. 60. 



180 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

articulate with reference to their common needs and 
aspirations, the Department of Labor is usually under 
a necessity of turning to the labor organizations that 
exist and such as may come into existence for definite 
and trustworthy advice on the sentiments of the wage- 
earning classes regarding their common welfare. Freely 
as conferences with unorganized wage-earners are wel- 
come, official intercourse with individuals as such has 
practical limits which organization alone can remove. 
Manifestly, then, the Department of Labor must in- 
vite the confidence and encourage the cooperation of 
responsible labor organizations and their accredited 
officers and committees if it is to subserve its pre- 
scribed purpose through an intelligent and effective 
administration of its authorized functions." ^ The 
Secretary, under the organic law of the department, 
has power to act as mediator and to appoint commis- 
sioners of conciliation in labor disputes whenever in 
his judgment the interests of industrial peace may re- 
quire it to be done. It is this power, rather than the 
routine work of the department bureaus, that gives 
reason for the creation of the department as a separate 
branch of the Federal Executive, and we shall later 
note that similar reasoning underlies the claim that 
there should be created a Department of Transportation, 
as an added arm of the President. 

The Bureau of Immigration has charge of the ad- 
ministration of all immigration and Chinese exclusion 
laws. In the archives of the Bureau of Naturalization 
1 Report for 19H, p. 5. 



AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LABOR 181 

are filed duplicates of all certificates of naturalization 
granted by state or federal courts since 1906, as well 
as the declarations of intention to become citizens, — 
and annually there are received approximately 400,000 
naturalization papers, — and the bureau has charge of 
all naturalization cases. All manner of vital facts are 
collected and published by the Bureau of Labor Statis- 
tics, while the Children's Bureau devotes itself to that 
most necessary safeguard of the future of the nation — 
the welfare of the men and women who shall labor with 
arm and head for the continuance of the national life. 
Altogether, the Department of Labor is a most useful 
and necessary branch of the Federal Executive, and 
no department presents more important possibilities 
of national usefulness "in promoting the general wel- 
fare." 



CHAPTER X 

FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS IN 

SECURING CERTAIN OF "THE BLESSINGS OF 

LIBERTY." THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 

By the side of the magnificent Union Station in Wash- 
ington is the new City Post-Office, a huge marble edi- 
fice belonging to the Post-Office Department which has 
just been erected. Carved upon the front of this build- 
ing are a number of sentences descriptive of the work 
of the biggest business organization the United States 
at present conducts. I have elsewhere said that I anti- 
cipated as the next department to be created a Depart- 
ment of Transportation, but this new building is closely 
allied with a great transportation business which the 
United States already conducts. The inscriptions on 
the front of this building are strikingly descriptive of 
the work of the Post-Office Department: — 

MESSENGER OF SYMPATHY AND LOVE 
SERVANT OF PARTED FRIENDS 
CONSOLER OF THE LONELY 
BOND OF THE SCATTERED FAMILY 
ENLARGER OF THE COMMON LIFE 
CARRIER OF NEWS AND KNOWLEDGE 
INSTRUMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY 
PROMOTER OF MUTUAL ACQUAINTANCE, OF 

PEACE AND GOOD-WILL AMONG MEN AND 

NATIONS. 

Throughout the whole of the United States, in all 
cities and towns of any importance, are substantial and 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 183 

in some cases large and very costly buildings belonging 
to the department, and in the smallest villages, usually 
in the "village store," are local branches of the Post- 
Office. On January 1, 1915, there were in all the various 
branches of the department over 300,000 people em- 
ployed. Of this number 521 were first-class postmasters, 
having charge of the department's work in such great 
cities as New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and others. 
There were at the same time 2080 second-class post- 
masters, 6304 third-class postmasters, and 47,636 
fourth-class postmasters in charge of cities, towns, and 
localities, making a total of 56,541 post-offices. 

At the Post-Office Department Building, on Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue in Washington, are the executive offices 
of this vast system, by which money, letters, or fresh- 
laid eggs may be sent to and from all parts of the Union 
at extremely low prices. The Post-Office is the only 
department of the Government which conducts an en- 
terprise which is not of necessity governmental in its 
functions, and its transactions are in themselves those 
of a huge and well-organized corporation. It is not only 
a carrier, but a bank, for by means of its money-order 
branch it conducts a domestic and foreign exchange 
business, and through the postal savings system, it 
affords savings-bank facilities to the smallest depositor 
in the most remote districts of the nation. 

The Postmaster-General's duties are similar to those 
of the president of a great railroad, and the four As- 
sistant Postmasters-General perform duties similar to 
those of the vice-presidents of such a railway system. 



184 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

The department has its own law department, a part of 
the Department of Justice, and its own force of inspec- 
tors, who see that its work is properly done and that 
its officers are honest and efficient. Its uniformed and 
ununiformed employees are met with in every street 
and along every country road, and it enters into the 
daily life of nearly every citizen of the Union. Over 
11,000,000,000 postage stamps of various sorts on news- 
paper wrappers, post-cards, stamped envelopes, and of 
different denominations are issued every year, and it has 
been computed that this means that more than a thou- 
sand stamps, irrespective of varying denominations, are 
used annually for each man, woman, and child in the 
United States. The annual receipts of the Chicago Post- 
Office are said to be larger than were those of the Federal 
Treasury from all sources at the beginning of the Civil 
War. The annual receipts of the Post-Office of New York 
City, which is the largest in the country, are more 
than $23,000,000 a year. The extent of the dealings of 
the American people with this huge transportation sys- 
tem can best be realized by the estimate that each 
individual in the country pays about $2.29 a year for 
postage. In 1837, the average per-capita expenditure a 
year for postage was about $.32. 

The Postmaster-General is, therefore, an often over- 
worked business man, for upon him devolves the direc- 
tion of the whole system. In the general Post-Office 
Building in Washington is a small private elevator 
leading to the Postmaster-General's offices which car- 
ries a constant stream of Senators, Representatives in 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 185 

Congress, contractors of all sorts, and others from all 
parts of the country, and during the inauguration of 
the reforms instituted by Postmaster-General Hitch- 
cock on many nights this little elevator was often in 
service until after midnight. The Postmaster-General 
is usually a man of broad business training, although, 
because of the numerous offices to be filled in his de- 
partment, he is called upon to deal largely in what is 
popularly termed "politics." Such Postmasters-Gen- 
eral as James A. Gary, of Maryland, who left a multi- 
tude of varying business interests to serve in President 
McKinley's Cabinet, and John Wanamaker, head of the 
great Wanamaker department stores, are prominent 
types of Postmasters-General who brought to the office 
wide business experience. Sir William Anson says the 
English Postmaster-General "is no more than the acting 
manager of a great business, with little discretionary 
power except in the exercise of the very considerable 
patronage of his office." ^ Our Postmaster-General is 
all of that and something more. 

The work of the department is conducted through 
four divisions, and in addition certain matters are 
under the supervision of the director of the postal sav- 
ings system, the chief post-office inspector, the pur- 
chasing agent, and the solicitor for the Post-Office 
Department. At the head of each of the four divisions 
is an Assistant Postmaster-General. The functions of 
the department can best be considered under these 
divisions. Roughly characterizing the duties of these 
1 Law and Ciistom of the Constitution, vol. ii, p. 184. 



186 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

executive officers, the First Assistant has charge of 
personnel; the Second Assistant, of transportation; the 
Third Assistant, of finance; and the Fourth Assistant, 
of miscellaneous matters. 

The matters of personnel dealt with by the First 
Assistant include primarily the appointment of post- 
masters. The preparation of cases for appointment, 
supervision of postmasters' bonding and commissions, 
charges and complaints against them, regulation of 
their hours of business and leaves of absence, — all are 
under the charge of the First Assistant. Matters relating 
to their salaries, clerk hire, rent, light, fuel, canceling- 
machines, are also within his jurisdiction. Changing 
the names of existing post-offices, fixing sites for new 
post-offices, the establishing of postal stations, and 
such matters are part of the work of this division. The 
taxing details of the city delivery service include such 
matters as letter-carriers' pay, horse-hire, wagon-col- 
lection equipment, and general supervision of carriers. 
I The Post-Office Department has contracts with a 
vast network of railway and steamship corporations 
throughout the entire country, and in charge of all 
these matters of transportation is the Second Assistant 
Postmaster-General. The official analysis of his duties 
classifies them under the headings of railroad adjust- 
ments, miscellaneous transportation, foreign mails, rail- 
way mail service, and equipment. The General Post- 
Office was constituted the Post-Office Department by 
Act of Congress, approved June 8, 1872. The ever- 
increasing functions of the Post-Office Department can 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 187 

be best appreciated by a consideration of the work 
done under the direction of the Second Assistant. With 
the recent assumption by the department, under the 
parcel post service, inaugurated through the efforts of 
Postmaster-General Hitchcock, of the business hitherto 
exclusively carried on by express companies, the Fed- 
eral Government has extended its functions to matters 
logically within its duties, which have for a long time 
been exercised by European Governments. The ex- 
tension of the Post-OfRce Department, however, is 
a result of the increased demands in population of 
the country and is directly no encroachment upon the 
rights of the States, since, from the beginning of the 
Union, the States have had nothing to do with the 
posts. 

The parcel post service has been in operation for less 
than three years, but it is estimated that at the present 
time it handles more than 800,000,000 parcels annually. 
This service is not only domestic, but on the 9th of 
May, 1914, a parcel post service with Greece was in- 
augurated. Parcel post conventions with the Bahamas, 
Barbados, British Honduras, Ecuador, Jamaica, and 
other places have also been made, and negotiations are 
now in progress for similar conventions with Cuba, 
Argentina, China, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and other 
countries. The parcel post service has added to the 
department most extensive and important duties, and 
though, in the opinion of the department, it is, as yet, 
in some respects, only in the experimental stage, the 
increased volume of this business has presented many 



188 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

difficult problems in connection with the transportation 
and handling of the mail. 

The rural delivery service, by which letters, news- 
papers, money, and merchandise are delivered to often 
remote habitations in sparsely settled districts, is under 
the direction of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-Gen- 
eral. To me, the rural delivery service and the parcel 
post are typical of the increased influence of the Federal 
Executive, and indicate the manner in which the indi- 
vidual citizen of the whole Union is, through the Fed- 
eral Government, brought into direct communication 
with the business life of the great cities. They are also 
typical of the general "personal unification" of the 
nation, since the establishment of rural delivery mail 
routes and the parcel post usually means a lessening 
of the business of local country post-offices. These 
post-offices have usually been located in the one and 
only store of the village. Upon the establishment of 
the rural delivery, many of its patrons cease their pur- 
chases at the local store which they had formerly of 
necessity visited to get their mail, and purchase and 
receive through the post-office service their household 
requirements from the huge mail order commercial 
houses that have arisen in the great cities. In the opin- 
ion of the present Postmaster-General, the rural deliv- 
ery service not only improves the condition of farm 
life, but tends to check the movement of the rural popu- 
lation to the congested urban communities; but in 
his last report he calls to the attention of Congress the 
fact that this service entails an annual expense of 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 189 

$40,000,000, in excess of the revenues produced by such 
services.^ 

The Treasury Department receives customs duties, 
internal revenue taxes, income taxes, and even war 
taxes, but all of this income is a return from taxation. 
The Post-Office Department is the only department 
which directly receives compensation for services ren- 
dered to the "consumer." It is the largest postal es- 
tablishment in the world, and it deals with about one 
third of the aggregate postal business of all civilized 
nations. Until the administration of Postmaster-Gen- 
eral Hitchcock, there existed an annual deficit in the 
years immediately prior to his appointment of some 
$10,000,000 to $18,000,000 a year. He, by far-reaching 
reforms, succeeded in eliminating this deficit and mak- 
ing the postal service not only self-supporting but a 
paying institution. ^ The report of the Postmaster-Gen- 
eral for the year 1914 shows that for the year ending 
June 30, 1914, the income of the Post-Office Depart- 
ment was $287,934,565.67, and its expenditures $284,- 
350,545.21, leaving an estimated surplus of $3,569,- 
687. In reference to this surplus Postmaster-General 
Burleson says: "In considering the financial condition 
of the postal service certain other factors must be taken 
into account; as, for example, rental at a fair value of 
federal buildings, fixtures, and equipment used wholly 
or in part for postal purposes, and the expenses incident 
to the conduct of the Post-Office Department and the 

^ Report of the Postmaster-General for 19H.. 

8 Frederick J. Haskin, The American Government, p. 65. 



190 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

office of the Auditor for the Post-Office Department, 
which are not now charged against the postal service. 
On the other hand, the department does not receive 
credit for the unrecompensed performance of func- 
tions, such as the free transportation of franked and 
penalty mail and the handling of second-class mail mat- 
ter under a virtual subsidy of more than $50,000,000 
a year." ^ 

"Franked" mail is that sent free by members of 
Congress, and "penalty" mail is that sent by the various 
departments and officers of the Government on official 
business. The latter derives its name from the imprint 
it bears, "Official Business. Penalty for private use 
$300." It costs to transmit second-class mail matter, 
as shown by the above Report, about $50,000,000 a 
year more than the senders pay the Government, but 
the magazine and periodical publishers have so far suc- 
cessfully prevented any increase in the second-class 
postal rate. Among the most needed reforms in the 
postal service are the prevention of abuses of the frank- 
ing privilege and rearrangement of the rates of second- 
class matter. In a case recently investigated by the Post- 
Office Department, the Government was defrauded out 
of $57,600 of postage for pamphlets which were im- 
properly transmitted under the franking privilege. 

The Post-Office has long conducted a domestic ex- 
change business by means of money orders, and the 
year ending June 30, 1914, marked the close of the first 
half -century of the operation of the postal money-order 
1 Report of the Postmaster-General for 191 It, p. 5. 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 191 

system. In the beginning, money orders could be ob- 
tained at 419 post-offices. At the present time they 
are available at 55,055 offices, and during the last fiscal 
year money orders were issued aggregating over $667,- 
000,000. The Post-Office also does an international 
money-order business and therefore conducts another 
function of an international banking house. 

Another important phase of the banking function 
of the Post-Office Department is the postal savings 
system. In 1911, Postmaster-General Hitchcock estab- 
lished this system, the receipt of deposits having begun 
on January 3, 1911, in the post-offices in various States. 
The postal savings system has met with great popular 
approval, and the Report of the Postmaster-General for 
1914 shows that on June 30, 1914, the number of depos- 
itors was nearly 390,000, while the amount on deposit 
to their credit was over $43,000,000, showing an aver- 
age increase in the principal of each depositor from $102 
to $111 and a large increase in the number of depos- 
itors and depositories. 

This system was inaugurated for the purpose of en- 
couraging habits of saving among the mass of the peo- 
ple of the country, and apparently the object for which 
the system was instituted is being attained. At present 
the amount that may be deposited is restricted. No 
one depositor can place in the postal savings system 
more than $100 a month, and he cannot have more 
than $500 on deposit, but recommendations have been 
made by the Postmaster-General to Congress that these 
amounts be increased. 



192 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

The United States, through the post-office, furnishes 
inexpensive, prompt, and most efficient communica- 
tion between all parts of the country. Benefits of the 
postal service are a common benefit to all of the people, 
and the Government has provided strong safeguards 
against the abuse of the great privilege it thus affords. 
It is the duty of the Solicitor for the Post-Office ^ and 
of the Department of Justice, through its district at- 
torneys, to protect the people of the nation from such 
abuses. By the use of the postal service, the traditional 
"gold-brick" man of the great city may be brought 
into easy communication with the inhabitant of the 
smallest rural district, unversed in the ways of fraud 
and knavery of the great cities, and one of the most 
interesting class of cases that the Department of Jus- 
tice is called upon to handle relates to the prevention 
of fraudulent use of the mails. I have already referred 
to these matters in describing the duties of the Depart- 
ment of Justice. Until the amendment of the Federal 
Penal Code of 1909, the mails were flooded with fraud- 
ulent stock-selling schemes of all kinds. Since that 
time a great number of persons, some of whom bore 
undeserved excellent reputations in the community, 
have gone to the penitentiary for defrauding widows 
and orphans through the mails, and the Department 
of Justice is constantly alert to protect the postal serv- 
ice, which, of all the branches of the Federal Execu- 

1 The Assistant Attorney-General for the Post-Office Depart- 
ment became the Solicitor for the Post-Office Department by Act 
of Congress, approved July 16, 1914. 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 193 

tive, most nearly touches the daily life of the individual 
citizen of the Union. The extent of the fraudulent use 
of the mails can best be realized by the fact that the 
reports of the post-office inspectors for the year ending 
June 30, 1914, show that the promoters of fraudulent 
schemes carried out through using the mails obtained 
approximately $68,000,000 from the public. The de- 
partment considers that one of the best illustrations of 
the method in which money is obtained from ignorant 
persons through the mails has been in the exploiting 
of alleged remedies for various diseases advertised in a 
manner to frighten ignorant people into believing harm- 
less aches and pains to be symptoms of serious diseases 
and causing them to pay exorbitant prices for worth- 
less alleged remedies. 

The Post-Office Department is a thoroughly up-to- 
date business institution. Nothing more clearly shows 
this than the fact that, while the army and navy are 
deficient in aerial defenses, during the past year the 
Post-Office Department has been conducting eight 
experimental aerial mail-service stations. For many 
years the Postinasters-General have cast covetous eyes 
toward the privately owned telegraph and telephone 
lines, and the future will undoubtedly see strong efforts 
made for government ownership of such public utilities. 



CHAPTER XI \ 

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES AND THE DEVELOPMENT 
OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 

In the preceding chapters we have seen the creation 
of the Federal Executive, have traced its development, 
and noted and examined its organization and functions. 
Before concluding these studies by a discussion of the 
probability of the developments of the future, it will be 
of interest to see what part has been played in the past 
by various of the Presidents in relation to the expansion 
of the National Executive Administration. President 
Wilson has had twenty-six predecessors, every one of 
whom has, in a greater or less degree, exercised an influ- 
ence on the Federal Executive. It is a difficult thing 
for the student and increasingly difficult for the general 
reader to carry in his mind the list of the twenty-seven 
Chief Executives. There is probably not one person out 
of every one hundred in the United States who could off- 
hand give the names of all twenty-seven. I have always 
recollected with considerable amusement a "memory 
expert" who came to the preparatory school I attended, 
with the avowed purpose of teaching us all how, easily, 
to remember any long list of names. He outlined a 
method by which we could remember in order all of the 
Presidents of the United States. I have never been 
able to recall his proposed method of association of the 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 195 

various Presidents except as to Washington and Adams, 
but by reason of his instruction, I have never had any 
difficulty in remembering that Adams was the second 
President. He said that we must start with the premise 
that everybody knew that Washington was the first 
President. The first four letters of his name spell 
"Wash." "Even the most stupid schoolboy knew," 
said the "memory expert," "that it was impossible to 
wash without water." Water naturally suggested, even 
to the mind of average intelligence, a very usual means 
of conducting water, to wit, a hose. Hose, of course, 
would immediately recall to our minds the most com- 
mon form of hose, that is to say, a "garden hose." At 
this point his face became illuminated with the ap- 
proaching climax of his association of ideas. Garden 
hose reminded us of "garden"; "garden" reminded us 
of the "Garden of Eden" (it was assumed that we had 
been properly instructed in the Scriptures); "Garden 
of Eden" reminded us of Adam and Eve, and immedi- 
ately the mind was able to draw out of its subconscious- 
ness the fact that the second President was Adams. 
I have no easy method to suggest for a recollection of 
the twenty-seven Presidents of the United States, but 
it will be helpful to recall that they were Washing- 
ton, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy 
Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, 
Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lin- 
coln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleve- 
land, Benjamin Harrison, McKinley, the two living ex- 
Presidents, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Taft, and the present 



196 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Chief Executive, Mr. Wilson. ^ The ten executive de- 
partments were created or attained executive rank in the 
administrations of eight Presidents. The Departments 
of State, War, and the Treasury were all created in 
Washington's first Administration, between July 27 and 
September 2, 1789. The office of Attorney-General was 
created at the same time, but the Attorney-General did 
not become the head of the Department of Justice until 
the Administration of President Grant, when the De- 
partment of Justice was created June 22, 1870. The 
General Post-Office was also created in 1789 in Washing- 
ton's first Administration, but the Postmaster-General 
was not admitted to the Cabinet as the head of an execu- 
tive department coordinate with those of State, War, 
and the Treasury until the first Administration of Presi- 
dent Jackson in 1829. The Department of the Navy 
was created April 30, 1798, during the Administration of 
President Adams, while the signing of the act providing 
for the Department of the Interior, on March 3, 1849, 
was one of the last acts President Polk performed as 
Chief Executive. The following day, March 4, 1849, 
President Taylor was inaugurated, and appointed the 
first Secretary of the Interior. The Department of 
Agriculture was created during President Cleveland's 
first term, February 9, 1889, while the Department of 
Commerce and Labor was instituted during President 
Roosevelt's Administration in 1903, and the Department 
of Labor in that of President Wilson in 1913. Although 

1 For a complete list of Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and the 
respective terms of each, see Appendix I. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 197 

these departments, with the exception of the original 
departments, were created during different Administra- 
tions, almost every President had made some recom- 
mendation to Congress concerning the necessity of the 
departments which were afterwards created. 

When Washington dehvered his inaugural address, 
April 30, 1789, he made no specific recommendation to 
Congress for the creation of any executive departments. 
When he sent his first annual message to Congress, the 
executive machinery for the Government had been pro- 
vided for; but in his first inaugural address he said: "It 
will be more consistent with those circumstances, and 
far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, 
to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particu- 
lar measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the 
rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the charac- 
ters selected to devise and adopt them." ^ On June 8, 
1789, however, he sent to the Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs, the Secretary of War, the Board of the Treasury, 
and the Postmaster-General who had served under the 
Articles of Confederation and who had remained in 
charge of the executive machinery, the following inter- 
esting communication: "Although in the present unset- 
tled state of the executive departments under the Gov- 
ernment of the Union I do not conceive it expedient to 
call upon you for information officially, yet I have sup- 
posed that some informal communications from the 
Office of Foreign Affairs might neither be improper nor 
unprofitable. Finding myself at this moment less occu- 
' Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. I, p. 52. 



198 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

pied with the duties of my office than I shall probably be 
at almost any time hereafter, I am desirous of employ- 
ing myself in obtaining an acquaintance with the real 
situation of the several great departments at the period 
of my acceding to the administration of the General 
Government. For this purpose I wish to receive in writ- 
ing such a clear account of the department at the head 
of which you have been for some years past as may 
be sufficient (without overburthening or confusing the 
mind, which has very many objects to claim its atten- 
tion at the same instant), to impress me with the full, 
precise, and distinct general idea of the affairs of the 
United States so far as they are comprehended in or con- 
nected with that department. As I am now at leisure to 
inspect such papers and documents as may be necessary 
to be acted upon hereafter or as may be calculated to 
give me an insight into the business and duties of that 
department, I have thought fit to address this notifica- 
tion to you accordingly." ^ The act providing for the 
Department of Foreign Affairs, which afterwards be- 
came the Department of State, was passed within six 
weeks of the time Washington sent the above communi- 
cations, and the Departments of War and the Treasury 
were created almost immediately thereafter. Although 
we find no formal message to Congress from Washington 
on the subject of the executive departments, he was un- 
doubtedly in constant communication with Hamilton, 
Madison, and those in Congress who were chiefly re- 
sponsible for the legislation creating the departments. 
^ Sparks, The Writings of Washington, vol. x, pp. 11-12. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 199 

We know that Madison, who afterwards himself became 
President, offered the resolution in Congress to create 
the executive departments of Foreign Affairs, of the 
Treasury, and of War.^ The Post-Office Department 
was created at about the same time, and the judiciary 
act which provided for the Attorney-General was formu- 
lated at the same period, and undoubtedly Washington 
participated actively in the preparation of these acts. 
Soon after his inauguration, Washington said: "The es- 
tablishment of our new Government seemed to be the 
last great experiment for promoting human happiness 
by a reasonable compact in civil society. . . . There is 
scarcely any part of my conduct which may not here- 
after be drawn into precedent." ^ Washington fre- 
quently referred to the United States as an infant em- 
pire, and he saw, before any one else, the marvelous 
future of the new Union. When he became President, 
there was no Government except a President and a 
Congress. No man was able to exercise more influence 
and in a greater measure to mould the character of the 
new experiment in government and no man could have 
done it more wisely than he. He was one of the most 
able judges of men the nation has ever known, and he 
drew about him a Cabinet which such an authority as 
Senator Lodge says, "in its aggregate ability never has 
been equaled in this country." ^ 
The Department of the Navy was not created until 

^ Sydney Howard Gay, Life of James Madison, p, 143. 

2 Henry Cabot Lodge, Life of George Washington, vol. I, p. 7. 

3 Ihid., vol. II, p. 63. 



200 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

nine years after the other departments. We have al- 
ready seen how in the beginning the Secretary of War 
had charge of naval affairs. Foreign comphcations 
made a navy especially necessary under the Adminis- 
tration of President Adams. On May 16, 1797, in a 
message to a special session of Congress, President 
Adams said: "The naval establishment must occur to 
every man who considers the injuries committed on our 
commerce, the insults offered to our citizens, and the 
description of vessels by which these abuses have been 
practiced. ... A naval power, next to the militia, is the 
natural defense of the United States. . . . Our seacoasts, 
from their great extent, are more easily annoyed and 
more easily defended by a naval force than any other. . . . 
But although the establishment of a permanent system 
of naval defense appears to be requisite, I am sensible 
it could not be formed so speedily and extensively as the 
present crisis demands." ^ Adams had always taken 
especial interest in the navy. Coming as he did from 
New England, which at that time was the shipping cen- 
ter, the need of a sufficiently powerful navy had always 
been a favorite measure with him and one that he had 
urged constantly. During the Revolution he had taken 
a special interest in the navy and believed that the 
United States should be a great naval power. In Janu- 
ary, 1798, the relations of the United States with France 
became critical. President Adams conferred with his 
Cabinet and the consensus of opinion was that the navy 
should be at once increased. On March 5, 1798, Adams 
1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. i, pp. 236-37. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 201 

advised Congress of the failure of the mission he had 
sent to France and advised continuance of immediate 
preparations against a very probable war. These efforts 
of President Adams resulted in the creation of the De- 
partment of the Navy on April 13, 1798. 

Washington's first Cabinet contained in it men of 
diametrically opposed political principles who could not 
possibly have served together under any other man than 
Washington. Alexander Hamilton, one of the ablest, 
keenest, and most constructive statesmen of any age, 
enjoyed the complete confidence of his chief. By every 
tendency of his nature Hamilton favored a strong and 
powerful Federal Government, and the Federal Execu- 
tive of to-day bears his stamp upon it still. Thomas 
Jefferson, the Secretary of State, however, was extremely 
fearful of the power of the Federal Government, and 
during his Administration as President no steps were 
taken toward the increase of the executive power. We 
have, however, a very interesting commentary from 
Jefferson concerning the manner in which Washington 
and Adams conducted the executive business. Jeffer- 
son disliked Adams, from whom he differed on almost 
every conceivable subject, and this must be borne in 
mind in reading his criticisms of President Adams's 
Administration. Jefferson was inaugurated March 4, 
1801, and on November 6 of the same year, he issued 
a circular to the heads of the executive departments. 
It throws so much light upon the Cabinet of those 
early days that it is proper to quote a large part of it. 
Jefferson said to the members of his Cabinet: "Com- 



202 ;the federal executive 

ing all of us into executive office new and unfamiliar 
with the course of business previously practiced, it 
was not to be expected we should in the first outset 
adopt in every part a line of proceeding so perfect as to 
admit no amendment. The mode and degrees of com- 
munication particularly between the Presidents and 
heads of departments have not been practiced exactly 
on the same scale in all of them, yet it would certainly 
be more safe and satisfactory for ourselves as well as for 
the public that not only the best, but also an uniform 
course of proceeding as to manner and degree should be 
observed. Having been a member of the first Admin- 
istration under General Washington, I can state with 
exactness what our course then was. Letters of busi- 
ness came addressed sometimes to the President, but 
most frequently to the heads of departments. If ad- 
dressed to himself, he referred them to the proper de- 
partment to be acted on. If to one of the Secretaries, 
the letter, if it required no answer, was communicated 
to the President simply for his information. If an 
answer was requisite, the Secretary of the department 
communicated the letter and his proposed answer to the 
President. Generally they were simply sent back after 
perusal which signified his approbation. Sometimes he re- 
turned them with an informal note suggesting an altera- 
tion or a query. If a doubt of any importance arose, he 
reserved it for conference. By this means he was always 
in accurate possession of all facts and proceedings in 
every part of the Union, and to whatsoever department 
they related: he formed a central point for the different 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 203 

branches; preserved an unity of object and action among 
them; exercised that participation in the suggestion of 
affairs which his office made incumbent on him, and met 
himself the due responsibihty for whatever was done. 
During Mr. Adams's Administration his long and habit- 
ual absences from the seat of government rendered this 
kind of communication impracticable, removed him from 
any share in the transaction of affairs and parcelled 
out the Government in fact among four independent 
heads drawing sometimes in opposite directions. That 
the former is preferable to the latter course cannot be 
doubted. . . . Whether any change of circumstances may 
render a change in this procedure necessary a little 
experience will show us. But I cannot withhold recom- 
mending to heads of departments that we should adopt 
this course for the present, leaving any necessary modi- 
fications of it to time and trial." ^ 

We have already noted that President Madison as a 
member of Congress had taken an active part in the 
legislation which created the original departments. He 
was among the first to realize the necessity of additional 
departments and to recommend their creation. In his 
eighth annual message to Congress, December 3, 1816, 
he urged upon Congress "the expediency of a remodifi- 
cation of the judiciary establishment and of an ad- 
ditional department in the executive branch of the 
Government." Apparently by this recommendation, he 
placed before Congress the propriety of creating a De- 

1 Paul Leicester Ford, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. Viii, 
pp. 99-101. 



204 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

partment of Justice, for, he said, "the course of experi- 
ence recommends, as another improvement in the execu- 
tive estabhshment, that the provision for the station of 
Attorney-General, whose residence at the seat of gov- 
ernment, official connections with it, and the manage- 
ment of the public business before the judiciary preclude 
an extensive participation in professional emoluments, 
be made more adequate to his services and his relin- 
quishments, and that with a view to his reasonable 
accommodation and to a proper depository of his offi- 
cial opinions and proceedings, there be included in the 
provision the usual appurtenances to a public office." ^ 

Madison was a Federalist and believed in a strong 
Central Government. At the same time that he made 
the above recommendations, he made the first formal 
recommendation of any President for what afterwards 
became the Department of the Interior. He said that 
"the extent and variety of executive business also ac- 
cumulating with the progress of our country and its 
growing population call for an additional department, 
to be charged with duties now overburdening other 
departments and with such as have not been annexed to 
any department." ^ 

President Monroe, like Washington, Adams, and 
Madison, was a Federalist. In the Revolution he had 
enlisted as a private soldier, won promotion to the rank 
of captain of infantry, and distinguished himself as 
aide to Lord Sterling. Before his election as President, 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. I, pp. 577-78. 

2 Ibid., vol. I, p. 577. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 205 

he had been a delegate to the Continental Congress, 
United States Senator from Virginia, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, Envoy Extraordinary to France, and Secretary 
of State. He was thoroughly familiar with the necessity 
which led to the formation of the Union, and he strongly 
advocated strengthening and extending the power of the 
Federal Executive. In his first annual message, Decem- 
ber 2, 1817, he called attention to the insufficiency of the 
accommodations for the several executive departments 
and urged that better facilities be provided the heads of 
the departments and the Attorney-General for the con- 
duct of their business. He also urged the improvement 
and ornamentation of the National Capitol. ^ He was 
one of the first Presidents to suggest departmental super- 
vision of the mining interests which are to-day taken care 
of by the Bureau of Mines in the Interior Department. ^ 
During his Administration the Post-Office Department, 
although not yet considered one of the executive depart- 
ments equal in rank with the Department of State, had 
developed enormously, and in his seventh annual mes- 
sage to Congress, December 2, 1823, he congratulated 
Congress on the fact that there were 5240 post-offices 
in the Union and as many postmasters, and that the 
gross amount of postage sold from the 1st of July, 
1822, to the 1st of July, 1823, was $1,114,345.12 ;3 and 
again in his eighth annual message, December 2, 1824, 
he advised Congress that the revenue of the Post-Office 
Department "has received a considerable augmenta- 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. II, p. 19. 

2 Ibid., vol. II, p. 190. 3 Hid., vol. n, p. 215. 



206 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

tion in the past year," and that "the current receipts 
will exceed the expenditures"; also, "the transportation 
of the mail within the year has been much increased." * 
In all of his messages to Congress he refers to the Post- 
Office Department in the same manner as he refers to 
the other executive departments. In one of his messages 
he shows his joy at the increase in power and strength 
of the Federal Union. "If," he said, "we compare the 
present condition of our Union with its actual state at 
the close of the Revolution, the history of the world fur- 
nishes no example of a progress in improvement in all 
the important circumstances which constitute the hap- 
piness of a nation which bears any resemblance to it." ^ 
John Quincy Adams was also a Federahst and he made 
numerous recommendations to Congress for the exten- 
sion of the Federal Executive. In his first annual mes- 
sage, December 6, 1825, he called the attention of 
Congress to the recommendations of President Madi- 
son, "the citizen who," he said, "perhaps of all others 
throughout the Union, contributed most to the forma- 
tion and establishment of our Constitution." President 
Madison, said President Adams, "urgently recom- 
mended the revision of the judiciary and the estab- 
lishment of an additional executive department. The 
exigencies of the public service and its unavoidable de- 
ficiencies, as now in exercise, have added yearly cumu- 
lative weight to the considerations presented by him as 
persuasive to the measure, and in recommending it to 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. II, p. 258. 

2 Ibid., vol. II, p. 219. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 207 

your deliberations, I am happy to have the influence of 
his high authority in aid of the undoubting convictions 
of my own experience." He also recommended the 
creation of a Department of the Interior. His father, 
as President, had been chiefly responsible for the De- 
partment of the Navy, and it was most natural, in con- 
sidering the Federal Executive, that John Quincy Adams 
should have favored more executive departments. ** The 
naval armaments," he said, "which at an early period 
forced themselves upon the necessities of the Union, 
soon led to the estabhshment of a Department of the 
Navy, but the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of 
the Interior, which, early after the formation of the 
Government, had been united in one, continue so united 
at this time, to the unquestionable detriment of the 
public service. The multiplication of our relations with 
the nations and governments of the Old World has kept 
pace with that of our population and commerce, while 
within the last ten years a new family of nations in our 
own hemisphere has arisen among the inhabitants of 
the earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial and 
political, would of itself furnish occupation to an active 
and industrious department." ^ Although John Quincy 
Adams was a Federalist and favored a strong Central 
Government, and although he repeatedly called atten- 
tion to the flourishing condition of the Post-Office 
Department, it remained for his successor, who had little 
use for Cabinets and Cabinet Ministers, to advance the 
Postmaster-General to Cabinet rank. 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. ii, pp. 314-15. 



208 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

' Andrew Jackson thoroughly cleaned out the whole 
federal executive administration when he became Presi- 
dent. He came into power, says Sumner, "as the stand- 
ard-bearer of a new upheaval of Democracy and under a 
provision of new and fuller realization of the Jeff ersonian 
Democratic - Republican principles." ^ His adherents 
objected to the term "Cabinet"' and Jackson stripped 
the heads of the executive departments of the power and 
dignity they had gradually acquired and made of them 
no more than executive clerks. His Cabinet was not 
particularly strong; his Administration lacked unity 
and discipline; he relied for his advice chiefly upon a 
group of men who finally popularly came to be known 
as the "Kitchen Cabinet." I have already called atten- 
tion, in one of the early chapters of this book, to the 
reasons which led Jackson to elevate his Postmaster- 
General, William T. Barry, to equal rank with the heads 
of the executive departments. Previous Presidents had 
already called attention to the enormously increased 
functions of the Post-Office Department. The Post- 
master-General controlled many post-office appoint- 
ments. Jackson did not consider the possession of a seat 
in the Cabinet as a privilege or honor of any very great 
consideration, but he did consider control of the ap- 
pointments of postmasters for political purposes a most 
important matter. Postmaster-General John McLean, 
of Ohio, had occupied this position under the Adminis- 
tration of John Quincy Adams, without, however, being 
considered a member of the Cabinet. Jackson offered 
^ William Graham Sumner, Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 136. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 209 

to retain McLean as Postmaster-General with the added 
dignity of a Cabinet place, but McLean was not willing 
to conduct the Post-OfRce Department as Jackson de- 
sired, and therefore accepted a position on the bench 
of the Supreme Court, leaving to Postmaster-General 
Barry the newly acquired Cabinet honors and the dis- 
pensation of the political patronage. It is interesting 
to note that Barry, the Postmaster-General, was the 
only member of Jackson's Cabinet retained in his second 
Administration. Jackson was a Democrat, and as such 
was supposed to be opposed to any increase in the power 
of the Federal Executive; but throughout the whole 
history of the National Administration, strong Presi- 
dents without regard to party beliefs have usually fa- 
vored strengthening the executive power. Whatever 
may have been Jackson's published beliefs, he recom- 
mended the creation of additional executive depart- 
ments, and he raised an already existing department to 
equal rank with the original executive departments. 
In his first annual message, December 8, 1829, he re- 
ferred with evident satisfaction to the increasing power 
of the Post-OfRce Department, recommended that the 
Attorney-General be placed on the same footing as the 
heads of the other departments, and showed that he 
favored the creation of a Home Department or Depart- 
ment of the Interior, although he did not find it advis- 
able at that time to urge its creation upon a Democratic 
Congress. As to the Post-Office Department, President 
Jackson advised Congress that the report of the Post- 
master-General showed a highly satisfactory adminis- 



210 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

tration of that department, and added that the depart- 
ment "is to the body poHtic what the veins and arteries 
are to the natural — conveying rapidly and regularly 
to the remotest parts of the system correct information 
of the operations of the Government and bringing back 
to it the wishes and feelings of the people. Through its 
agency, we have secured to ourselves the full enjoyment 
of the blessings of a free press." ^ As to the Attorney- 
General he said, "I would recommend, therefore, that 
the duties now assigned to the agent of the Treasury, 
so far as they relate to the superintendence and man- 
agement of legal proceedings on the part of the United 
States, be transferred to the Attorney-General and that 
this officer be placed on the same footing in all respects 
as the heads of the other departments, receiving like 
compensation and having such subordinate officers pro- 
vided for his department as may be requisite for the 
discharge of these additional duties." ^ President Jack- 
son again repeated his very wise recommendation as to 
the Attorney-General in his second annual message to 
Congress December 6, 1830; but it was not until the 
Administration of General Grant in 1870 that the Con- 
gress heeded the recommendation for the creation of the 
Department of Justice. Concerning the Home or In- 
terior Department, President Jackson called the atten- 
tion of Congress to the great increase of business in the 
Department of State. He recalled to Congress Presi- 
dent Madison's recommendation for the creation of a 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. II, p. 460. 

2 Ibid., vol. II, p. 453. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 211 

Department of the Interior, and stated that this recom- 
mendation had been repeated by both of President 
Madison's successors, and added, "my comparatively 
limited experience has satisfied me of its justness." He 
was unquestionably in favor of the creation of a De- 
partment of the Interior and so stated to Congress, but 
apparently he did not care to urge unduly upon them the 
establishing of this department. His reasons for not 
asking for the establishment of the department at that 
time are interesting. The remedy proposed for the over- 
taxed condition of the Department of State, said Presi- 
dent Jackson, "was the establishment of a Home De- 
partment, a measure which does not appear to have 
met the views of Congress on account of its supposed 
tendency to increase gradually and imperceptibly the 
already too strong bias of the federal system towards 
the exercise of authority not delegated to it. I am not, 
therefore, disposed to revive the recommendation, but 
am not the less impressed with the importance of so 
organizing that department [State] that its Secretary 
may devote more of his time to our foreign relations. 
Clearly satisfied that the public good would be pro- 
moted by some suitable provision on the subject, I 
respectfully invite your attention to it." ^ Whatever 
may have been President Jackson's supposed attitude 
toward the expansion of the Federal Government, his 
recommendations to Congress, from the point of view 
of the Federalists, were entirely satisfactory, and as I 
have before pointed out, strong Presidents have contrib- 
1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. ii, pp. 461-62. 



212 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

uted to the extension of the Federal Executive, irrespec- 
tive of party. 

At the close of President Jackson's Administration, 
the Departments of State, War, the Treasury, and the 
Navy had been created. The Post-OfRce Department 
had been raised to equal rank with the other, depart- 
ments. The creation of the Department of the Interior 
and the Department of Justice had been strongly 
recommended. President Polk, in his first annual mes- 
sage, December 2, 1845, recommended a general re- 
organization of the several executive departments and a 
redistribution of their duties, which seemed to him to 
be incongruous. He also strongly recommended that 
the Attorney-General be placed on the same footing 
with the heads of the other executive departments. ^ 

In his second annual message. President Hayes 
called the attention of Congress, as Washington and 
many of his successors had already done, to the fact 
that the preponderance of the agricultural over any 
other interests in the United States entitled it to all the 
consideration claimed for it by President Washington, 
and in his third annual message, December 1, 1879, 
renewed his recommendation in favor of enlarging the 
facilities of the Department of Agriculture and asked 
that Congress place the department "upon a footing 
which will enable it to prosecute more effectively the 
objects for which it is established." ^ The department 
at that time was merely an independent division not 

^ Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. IV, pp. 414-15. 
2 Ibid., vol. VII, pp. 505 and 579. 



THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES 213 

under the head of any executive department, and it 
was not until the Administration of President Cleve- 
land that it was raised to executive rank. In his first 
annual message, December 8, 1885, and again in 1886, 
President Cleveland called the attention of Congress 
to the executive needs of agriculture. ^ February 9, 
1889, the department was created as an executive de- 
partment. 

President Adams repeatedly called attention to the 
necessity of fostering the commerce of the nation. ^ 
President Grant in 1870 urged upon Congress atten- 
tion to the depressed condition of American commerce, ^ 
and President Arthur advised the legislative body that 
"the continuing decline of the merchant marine of the 
United States is to be greatly deplored," ^ and later he 
urged the appointment of a commission for the investi- 
gation and betterment of our commercial conditions." 
President Harrison in his first annual message, Decem- 
ber 3, 1889, urged Congress to deal with the humiliat- 
ing question of the inferiority of our merchant marine.^ 
The Fifty-seventh Congress finally created the De- 
partment of Commerce and Labor, upon the recom- 
mendation of President Roosevelt that "there should 
be created a Cabinet officer to be known as Secretary 
of Commerce and Industries as provided in the bill 
introduced at the last session of Congress. It should 
be his province to deal with commerce in its broadest 

1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. viii, pp. 362 and 
527. 2 j^id,, vol. I, pp. 251 and 256. » Ibid., vol. vii, p. 106. 
* Ibid., vol. VIII, p. 63. « Ibid., vol. viii, p. 244. 

6 Ibid., vol. IX, p. 56. 



214 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

sense, including among many other things whatever 
concerns labor and all matters affecting the great busi- 
ness corporations and our merchant marine." ^ The 
most recent department, the Department of Labor, 
has been discussed from time to time during various 
Administrations. Under the present Administration of 
President Wilson, the old Department of Commerce 
and Labor has been divided and the labor interests of 
the country, the importance of which have been rec- 
ognized by almost every President since Washington, 
have their own special representative in the Presi- 
dent's Cabinet. 

^ Addresses and Presidential Messages of President Roosevelt, 
p. 298. 



CHAPTER XII 

PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

In the first chapter of these studies, we took a gen- 
eral survey of the Federal Government. We then ex- 
amined the creation of the executive departments and 
the Cabinet and followed through successive phases 
the development of the various departments and the 
Federal Executive as a whole. We have considered 
the status of the heads of the executive departments 
collectively as the Cabinet, and individually as con- 
stitutional officers of the Government in charge of 
various arms of the Executive. We have also consid- 
ered the present organization of the departments and 
have attempted to give accounts of their functions suffi- 
ciently particular to convey a fairly specific idea of the 
multiplex and important matters with which the Fed- 
eral Executive deals. In the preceding chapter, enough 
has been said concerning the men who have headed 
the Federal Executive since the Union was instituted 
to give some idea of the part various Presidents have 
played in the development of the Federal Executive. 
In this concluding chapter, we shall try to forecast 
some of the developments which may take place in it. 
There are three elements to be taken into consideration 
in such an examination — the President as Chief Ex- 
ecutive, the heads of the executive departments collec- 
tively as the Cabinet, and the executive departments 



216 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

themselves as integral parts of the Federal Executive. 
The powers of the President and the status of the 
Cabinet, we have considered from time to time, and 
there is small ground for any belief that there will, in 
the near future, occur any essential changes in the 
powers and relations of the President or the members 
of his Cabinet. The President to-day, as the Chief Ex- 
ecutive, occupies the same place in the Federal Govern- 
ment as he did when Washington was first inaugurated. 
The Chief Executive of a nation with over 101,208,315 
population necessarily has greater power and a much 
wider and more diversified power than the Chief Magis- 
trate of a newly formed Union with a population of about 
4,000,000. When the Constitution was put into effect 
the federal idea was very weak. We have seen how jeal- 
ous were the representatives of the individual States of 
the new central power. To-day the national concept is a 
vital part of the consciousness of the American people, 
and especially since the Spanish-American War by the 
policies of both great national political parties the 
Federal Government has grown enormously in power. 
The federalization of the National Guard of the vari- 
ous States, the assumption of an ever-increasing control 
by the Central Government over interstate business, 
the creation of the Department of Labor, are only 
three of the indications of the present tendency to add 
to the functions of the Federal Government. The old 
cry of "States' rights" may occasionally be raised as a 
political slogan, but the ancient jealousy of the Union 
no longer plays an important part in the promulgation 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 217 

of political policies. The President of the United States 
will probably become in the future a more powerful 
individual as the Federal Government acquires a more 
commanding place in the national life, but the Presi- 
dent himself will continue to occupy the position he has 
occupied since the beginning, and his influence, as in the 
past, will depend largely on the strength or weakness 
of his own personality. 

We have noted that the Cabinet in the beginning was 
not as such provided for by the organic law of the 
Union. It remains to-day an unofficial body of presi- 
dential advisers, whose only legal status arises from 
their being heads of executive departments and as such 
constitutional officers of the United States. There is 
more formality to-day than formerly in the meetings 
of the Cabinet, but the actions of the Cabinet still 
remain merely advisory to the President. There seems 
to be no reason to believe that any change will occur 
in this particular. We have discussed the possibility 
of seats being provided in Congress for the members 
of the Cabinet, but this question has never been seri- 
ously agitated, nor is there any reason to beheve that it 
will become a vital question in the near future. The 
influence upon the Administration of the individual 
members of the Cabinet, as in the past, will depend 
upon their personal relation to the President and their 
political and personal strength. In Washington's first 
Cabinet existed what would now be an anomalous 
condition. Jefferson, while a member of Washington's 
Cabinet, was actively opposed to the political theories 



218 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

of the President, and while a member of the Cabinet ; 
openly and without any marked disapprobation of; 
Washington formed the party whose underlying prin-i 
ciples were opposed to those of the Federalists with! 
whom the first President was in entire accord. At the 
present time no such condition could exist for any: 
length of time, for to-day it is expected that the mem- i 
bers of the Federal Executive shall be in accord with| 
their chief and with the principles of the party whom I 
he represents. There are at present ten executive de-i 
partments and ten members of the Cabinet. Undoubt- j 
edly there will, in the future, be additional departments | 
and additional members of the Cabinet, but it is to be ' 
hoped that the increase in the number of these execu- i 
tive officers will not be so great as to deprive the Cabi- j 
net of its effectiveness as a small, coherent advisory' 
council. The greatest probable development in the: 
Federal Executive is to be looked for in the creation of | 
further departments. The greatest need in the Federal i 
Executive is a reorganization and coordination of the ; 
functions of these various departments. 

At the present time the Interstate Commerce Com- : 
mission and the new Federal Trade Commission are ! 
both in the position of the Department of Labor before ' 
it came under the jurisdiction of the Department of ; 
Commerce and Labor prior to its erection into an in- 1 
dependent department, and it is probable that the : 
duties performed by these two bodies will in time be i 
brought under the direct supervision of an executive ! 
department. The Bureau of Education in the Interior : 



: PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 219 

Department and the Civil-Service Commission may- 
some day become the nucleus for a new executive De- 
partment of Education. There was once a Department 
of Railroads in the Interior Department, but this de- 
partment ceased to exist when the Government's parti- 
cipation in the construction of the great transcontinen- 
tal lines came to an end. The question of government 
control of railroads is one of the important questions 
to-day open for consideration. The possible acquisition 
and management by the Government of the telephone 
and telegraph lines of the country has also received con- 
siderable attention in recent years. The Department 
of Commerce, as now constituted, deals chiefly with 
foreign commerce, and it would seem to be likely that 
we may have, in the future, one or more departments 
dealing with railroads, telegraphs, telephones, and 
domestic interstate trade. Let us consider first the 
possibility of an executive Department of Education. 

I have already pointed out that among the Cabinet 
officers of the future will probably be a Secretary of 
Education. At present there is in the Department of 
the Interior the Bureau of Education. By the Act of 
March 2, 1866,^ a Department of Education was estab- 
lished for the purpose of collecting and diffusing such 
information relative to schools as would aid the people 
of the United States in the establishment and main- 
tenance of efficient school systems and otherwise pro- 
mote the cause of education throughout the country. 
This department was not intended to be an executive 
i 14 U.S. Stat. L. 434. 



220 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

department of equal rank with those already created, 
but it was not attached to any existing executive de- 
partment nor was its head under the direct authority of 
any Cabinet officer. A Commissioner of Education as 
head of this department was authorized, just as later 
a Commissioner of Labor was created. The latter has 
become head of the executive Department of Labor, 
but the Commissioner of Education has not yet become 
Secretary of Education. By the Act of July 20, 1868,^ 
the name of the Department of Education was changed 
to the Office of Education and was placed under the 
direction of the Secretary of the Interior. One of the 
greatest needs at the present time in the federal service 
is the proper training of efficient civil servants. The 
Civil-Service Commission stands for efficiency in the 
civil service of the Government based upon merit rather 
than upon political affiliations, and the efficient con- 
duct of the Federal Executive must depend upon a 
realization of the fact that certain offices require expert 
service and technical training. It would seem not im- 
proper that the general educational interests of the 
nation now fostered by the Bureau of Education should 
be combined with those activities of the Government 
which have in view proper training and specialized effi- 
ciency in the service of the Government itself. An ex- 
ecutive department having direction both of general 
education and special government service education 
would assume control of various educational functions 
performed at the present time by a number of the de- 
1 15 U.S. Stat. L. 106. 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 221 

partments and might be a very valuable addition to the 
Federal Executive. In regard to the possibility and 
advisability of an executive Department of Education, 
it will not be improper for me to quote the opinion of 
the present Commissioner of Education, the Honorable 
Philander P. Claxton, whose advice upon this subject 
I have asked. Commissioner Claxton states that the 
Bureau of Education attempts definitely the follow- 
ing things: (1) To be a clearing-house for accurate in- 
formation in regard to all phases and problems of edu- 
cation in this country and throughout the world. (2) 
To be a clearing-house for well-matured opinion; that 
is, the consensus of the best opinion on any particular 
problem of education, whether administrative, finan- 
cial, or pedagogic. (3) To be a source of sound and 
reliable advice on any particular subject connected 
with education in any part of the United States. (4) 
To assist school officials and citizens in bringing about 
better educational conditions in any State or section 
of the country, and in bringing about better opportuni- 
ties for education for all the people; that is, to con- 
duct its own campaigns for educational betterment and 
to assist in campaigns conducted by States and local 
communities or by associations interested in any par- 
ticular form of education. (5) In addition to the above, 
it is trying to find its way toward working out a definite 
body of scientific knowledge in regard to education in 
general and methods of teaching in particular, to do 
something similar to what has been done by the De- 
partment of Agriculture, working through the agricul- 



222 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

tural experiment stations, in the several States for the 
last twenty-five years. As to the advisability of a sep- 
arate executive Department of Education, Mr. Claxton 
feels that "just whether these things can be better done 
through a separate department with a Cabinet member 
at its head, or through a well-supported bureau in the 
Department of the Interior, I am unable to say. The 
separate department would have somewhat more in- 
dependence and probably more influence than a bu- 
reau. But, on the other hand, a department with a 
Cabinet position would necessarily be more closely allied 
with changing partisan politics. No doubt there will 
some time be a Department of Education. This will, I 
think, come as a result of a large increase in the support 
and extension of the functions of the present bureau." 
The most apparent tendency in the development of 
the departments has been the outgrowing of the ancient 
restrictions in the same normal manner as the small 
boy outgrows his knickerbockers: the Treasury De- 
partment has grown bigger as the national purse en- 
larged; the Navy Department has grown bigger as the 
size of the Union increased, and so it is with most of the 
executive departments. An interesting feature, how- 
ever, in the history of the development of the executive 
departments is that to which I have already called atten- 
tion in the account of the development of those de- 
partments. The same tendencies exist to-day that have 
always existed for unimportant functions of certain 
departments to become so insistently prominent that 
they cease to be subordinate matters of one depart- 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 223 

ment and are recognized by the creation of an additional 
independent branch of the executive power. It has 
already been suggested that the Interstate Commerce 
Commission may naturally develop into a department 
of railroads, whether or not the Federal Government 
supervises railroads or ultimately owns them. The Re- 
port of the Postmaster-General for the year 1914 re- 
news a suggestion which may mean eventually a new 
department which will conduct the national telegraphs 
and telephones. The Postmaster-General recommends 
a consideration by Congress of extending the govern- 
ment monopoly of the postal service to the transmission 
of all forms of intelligence, such as the telegraph and 
the telephone systems of the country. While this sug- 
gestion is made as an increase of the functions of the 
Post-Ofiice Department, should the Government ever 
so extend its functions these vast new additions of a 
purely business nature would probably be handled by 
a new executive department. The heads of the execu- 
tive departments speak only, theoretically, with the 
voice of the Chief Executive, and therefore we are per- 
mitted to consider the recommendations of the Post- 
master-General as being the recommendations of the 
President. The President, under our present form of 
party government, is the recognized mouthpiece of 
his party, and we may, therefore, in considering the 
tendencies of the development of the executive de- 
partments, consider the recommendations of a Post- 
master-General as a possible plank in some future party 
platform. It is, therefore, of interest for us to note 



224 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

what the present Postmaster-General considers to be the 
opinion of all the Postmasters-General of the United 
States on the subject of the extension of the govern- 
ment monopoly for the transmission of intelligence to 
include the telegraphs and telephones. "It is an inter- 
esting fact," Postmaster-General Burleson reports to 
Congress, "that, whereas policies of Government have 
been advocated, and some adopted, the constitutional- 
ity of which have been seriously questioned, the prin- 
ciple of government ownership and control of the tel- 
egraph and telephone finds its greatest strength in the 
Constitution. This opinion has been shared by prac- 
tically all Postmasters-General of the United States, 
who have held that the welfare and happiness of the 
nation depend upon the fullest utilization of these 
agencies by the people, which can only be accomplished 
through government ownership." ^ The English Post- 
master-General has been given exclusive control of the 
telegraph by provisions which have been held to include 
the telephone also, and the English Government has 
recently decided to take over the management of the 
telephones. 2 

The Interstate Commerce Commission which to-day 
has charge of railroad affairs is not an executive de- 
partment. It is, however, the only governmental 
agency which, at the present time, concerns itself with 
the railroads of the United States. Should, however, a 
Department of Railroads be eventually created, it will 

1 Report of the Postmaster-General, lOlIf, p. 13. 

2 Lowell, The Government of England, vol. i, p. 114. 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 225 

not be entirely without the sanction of precedent. The 
office of the Auditor of Railroad Accounts was created 
by Act of June 19, 1878,^ which provided that the duties 
of the auditor, under direction of the Secretary of the 
Interior, should be to devise a system of reports of 
government-aided railroads west of the Missouri 
River, to see that the laws relating to certain questions 
were enforced, to examine the company's accounts for 
government transportation, etc. By the Act of March 
3, 1881, the title of Auditor was changed to Commis- 
sioner of Railroads. The Act of March 3, 1893, ^ abol- 
ished the office of Commissioner of Railroads and pro- 
vided that the records and files of this office should be 
transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. The Act 
of 1878 was passed in the days when the United States 
was participating in the building of the transconti- 
nental railroads, and we have already seen that the 
Secretary of the Interior exercised an important control 
over such roads during the period of their construction. 
Apparently, the Commissioner of Railroads and the 
Secretary of the Interior's control of railroads existed 
until 1889, when the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion became independent. By the Act of February 4, 
1887,^ entitled "An Act to regulate commerce," by 
which the granting of rebates was prohibited and vari- 
ous other restrictions were imposed upon railroads, the 
Interstate Commerce Commission was created, to be 
appointed by the President. This act required the 

1 20 U.S. Stat. L. 169. 2 32 U.S. Stat. L. 1119. 

» 24 U.S. Stat. L. 383. 



226 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Commission to submit an annual report to the Secre- 
tary of the Interior, and also authorized him to pass 
upon the accounts of the Commission and provide 
quarters for the Commission. He also was required 
to approve the appointment of the employees of the 
Commission. The Secretary of the Interior seems to 
have found these duties irksome, for in his annual re- 
port for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, he recom- 
mended that the supervisory powers conferred upon 
him wdth respect to the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission be revoked, and by the Act of March 2, 1889,* 
the Interstate Commerce Act was amended so as to 
require the Commission to submit its report to Congress 
direct, and to withdraw from the Secretary the power 
to approve appointments, provide quarters, and pass 
upon accounts of the Commission. 

When, in 1903, the Department of Commerce and 
Labor was created, the status of the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission was fully considered, and whether 
or not it should be brought under the jurisdiction of 
an executive department was discussed at length in the 
Senate. The debates on this subject, participated in 
by the ablest members of the Senate, show the existence 
of a strong feeling that all of the executive agencies 
should be under the direct supervision of a member 
of the Cabinet. In reference to this matter, Senator 
Spooner said: "It is a little odd to have independent 
and unassimilated bureaus in the Government. Prima 
facie there is propriety in almost every case in having 
1 25 U.S. Stat. L. 861. 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 227 

these bureaus, whatever they may be, or these sub- 
departments, whatever they may deal with, in some 
executive department, presided over by a Cabinet offi- 
cer, who twice a week or every day visits the Chief 
Executive, who is responsible for the general conduct 
of the Administration. I agree with the Senator from 
Virginia [Mr. Martin] in all he said, and especially I 
agree with him that there are peculiar reasons why the 
Interstate Commerce Commission should not be trans- 
ferred to a department. The Interstate Commerce 
Commissioners are charged with the administration of an 
Act of Congress. It is part of their function to investi- 
gate with a view to enforcing the requirements of the 
Interstate Commerce Law, but a part, and a very im- 
portant part, of their functions are quasi-judicial." 
At this stage of the debate. Senator Hale, of Maine, 
remarked, "Is not that true about any bureau of impor- 
tance in any department of the Government?" to which 
Senator Spooner replied, "I do not think it is true." 
Senator Hale then replied, " The Indian Bureau in the 
Interior Department is engaged in administering the 
law. There is not a day in the great Land Office of 
the Interior Department when questions of law do not 
come up which involve hundreds of thousands and 
millions of dollars. Indeed, I have heard it said that the 
decisions of the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office yearly involve more value in property than those 
of any court which exists in the United States. The 
Interstate Commerce Commission was authorized to 
do nothing more than that. It is a projected body into 



228 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

the administration of the Government. They have no 
force so far as promulgating decisions which are recog- 
nized as law. Their duties are purely administrative, 
purely with regard to seeing that the different laws in 
reference to railroad transportation and interstate com- 
merce are carried out. Everything about it could be 
done by a well-developed and well-conducted bureau 
in a department as well as it is done now." Senator 
Spooner replied to this that "the Interstate Commerce 
Commissioners are rather sui generis. Of course they 
are 'projected into the administration/ just as every 
other bureau that has ever been created was 'pro- 
jected into the administration.' " Senator Hoar, of 
Massachusetts, expressed the opinion "that the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission is practically a judicial 
body."^ Congress excluded the Interstate Commerce 
Commission from the Department of Commerce and 
Labor because of the judicial functions of the Commis- 
sion. As I have pointed out, the Department of Justice 
exercises a large measure of control over the adminis- 
tration of the federal courts, and the work of the De- 
partment of Justice through the Attorney-General's 
office and the offices of various district attorneys is 
more than quasi-judicial. The Attorney-General in the 
early days of the Federal Executive was outside the 
executive departments, and it was not until 1870 that 
the Department of Justice was created. It would seem 
that cogent reasons exist for the placing of the Inter- 

1 Organization and Law of the Department of Commerce and Labor 
(1904), pp. 514-15. 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 229 

state Commerce Commission under the direct super- 
vision of a Cabinet officer, and the purely judicial func- 
tions of the Commission would seem to offer no valid 
bar to such supervision of the Commission by an execu- 
tive department. 

As early as 1864, bills were introduced in Congress 
for the creation of an executive department similar to 
the Department of Commerce and Labor. February 
8, 1864, in the first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, 
a bill was introduced to create and organize a Depart- 
ment of Industry, and in 1874, in the Forty-third Con- 
gress, a bill was introduced to create a Department of 
Commerce. The organization of such an executive de- 
partment was repeatedly considered by Congress until 
1903, when the Department of Commerce and Labor 
was finally erected. The original bill which resulted in 
the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor 
provided for a department to be called the Department 
of Commerce. It provided that the existing Depart- 
ment of Labor, which was not at that time an executive 
department and which was independent of any execu- 
tive department, should be placed under the jurisdic- 
tion of the Secretary of Commerce. In the debates in 
Congress it was noted that the Department of Labor 
was technically really an independent bureau, and that 
it occupied the same position as the Department of 
Agriculture when it was presided over by a Commis- 
sioner of Agriculture. The claims of American labor 
were, however, at that time recognized by adding to 
the name of the department, which finally emerged from 



230 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

Congress as the Department of Commerce and Labor. 
We have already seen that in 1913, the original inde- 
pendent non-executive Department of Labor became a 
full-fledged executive department. 

The original bill for the creation of the Department 
of Commerce contained a reference to the Commissioner 
of Railroads. It was pointed out that this office had 
been abolished by an Act of Congress which had taken 
effect on the previous 30th of June, and the original bill 
providing for the transfer of the office of Commissioner 
of Railroads to the proposed new department was 
thereupon amended so as to strike out all reference to 
the Commissioner of Railroads. In the debate on this 
subject attention was called to the fact that this office 
had become obsolete, "now that the entanglements 
of the Government with the Pacific Railroads had been 
eliminated." In 1874, in the Forty-third Congress, a 
bill was introduced ^ to establish a Bureau of Trans- 
portation to regulate the management of Interstate 
Commerce. The old office of the Commissioner of Rail- 
roads has ceased to exist. The Interstate Commerce 
Commission to-day is the only arm of the Government 
definitely dealing with the regulation of railroads. The 
Post-Office Department, by reason of the enormous 
amount of matter it transports by rail, has important 
dealings with the railroads, and from time to time new 
questions concerning railroad regulation in its relation 
to the Federal Government arise for consideration. 

The commercial interests of the United States clam- 
1 H.R. 1094. 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 231 

ored for executive representation for many years before 
the Department of Commerce was created. The labor 
interests of the United States sought executive recogni- 
tion for many years before the Department of Labor 
was created, and to-day the railroads themselves are 
asking for the addition to the executive departments 
of a Department of Transportation. In reference to this 
I cannot do better than to quote from an address made 
by Mr. Howard Elliott, Chairman of the Board of 
Directors and President of the New York, New Haven, 
and Hartford Railway Company, delivered April 8, 
1915, at Norwich, Connecticut, in which he said: "To- 
day the Government recognizes some of the great com- 
mercial activities of its population by departments and 
Cabinet officers, such as the Secretary of the Treasury, 
Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, and 
Secretary of Labor. The transportation business of 
the United States is next to agriculture in importance, 
in volume, and in its relation to the welfare of the whole 
country, and it should have a defender in the councils 
of the Cabinet. I believe it would be well to have a 
Department of Transportation, with a Secretary of 
Transportation at the head of it, who would be a mem- 
ber of the Cabinet. Such a man would of necessity have 
to champion somewhat the rights and privileges of the 
transportation business, just as the Secretaries of the 
Treasury, Commerce, and Labor speak for their par- 
ticular subjects. Such an officer would have a whole- 
some balancing effect between the demands of the pub- 
lic and of the regulatory organizations on one side, and 



232 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

any errors of policy and management on the part of 
the owners of the property on the other side," 

The Act of Congress of September 26, 1914, provid- 
ing for a Federal Trade Commission, transferred to this 
Commission the work formerly done by the Bureau of 
Corporations of the Department of Commerce. The 
creation of this Bureau of Corporations was considered 
one of the most important matters in connection with 
the Department of Commerce and Labor. President 
Roosevelt, in his message to the two houses of Con- 
gress at the beginning of the second session of the Fifty- 
eighth Congress, said: "The Congress has created the 
Department of Commerce and Labor including the 
Bureau of Corporations with, for the first time, au- 
thority to secure proper publicity of such proceedings 
of the great corporations as the public has the right to 
know. . . . The preliminary work of the Bureau of Cor- 
porations in the Department has shown the wisdom of 
its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs will tend 
to do away with ignorance and will afford facts upon 
which intelligent action may be taken." ^ By the 
merger of the Bureau of Corporations in the Federal 
Trade Commission, the work in reference to "big busi- 
ness," which was intended to be done by the Depart- 
ment of Commerce and Labor, has been placed under 
the jurisdiction of a Commission which is not under 
the supervision of any one of the members of the Cabi- 
net. The old Bureau of Corporations investigated the 

1 Addresses and Presidential Messages of President Roosevelt, 
pp. 380-81. 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 233 

legal and economic problems relating to proposed legis- 
lation concerning interstate trade. It also investigated 
the efficiency of trusts from the standpoint of business 
profits and from other standpoints of social welfare. 
The Federal Trade Commission Act ^ was approved 
by the President September 26, 1914, and is now being 
put into force. It provides for a Federal Trade Com- 
mission consisting of five commissioners, each of whom, 
when the organization is complete, will be appointed 
for a term of seven years and receive a salary of ten 
thousand dollars. The act provides that the Commis- 
sion is to choose from its own members its chairman, 
and that the commissioners shall not engage in any 
other business, vocation, or employment. Upon the 
organization of the Commission and the election of its 
chairman, the Bureau of Corporations and the Office of 
Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Corpora- 
tions, formerly under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 
of Commerce, cease to exist and all pending investiga- 
tions and proceedings of the Bureau of Corporations 
are to be continued by the Commission. The act is 
very broad in its scope. It declares that unfair meth- 
ods of competition in commerce are unlawful, and 
that the Commission is empowered and directed to 
prevent persons, partnerships, or corporations, except 
banks and common carriers subject to the acts to reg- 
ulate commerce, from using unfair methods of com- 
petition in commerce. The Commission is empowered 
to gather and compile information concerning, and to 
1 U.S. Stat. L., 1913-14, p. 717. 



234 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 

investigate from time to time, the organization, busi- 
ness, conduct, practices, and management of any cor- 
poration engaged in commerce, excepting banks and 
common carriers subject to the act to regulate com- 
merce, and its relation to other corporations and indi- 
viduals, associations, and partnerships. It also has the 
power to require from corporations engaged in commerce, 
excepting banks and common carriers subject to the 
act to regulate commerce, to file with the Commission 
annual or special reports, or answer in writing specific 
questions as to the organization, business, conduct, 
practices, management, and relation to other corpora- 
tions, partnerships, and individuals. Whenever a final 
decree has been entered against any corporation under 
the Anti-Trust Acts, the Federal Trade Commission 
is empowered to ascertain whether such decree is being 
carried out. It may institute such an investigation 
upon its own initiative or upon application of the At- 
torney-General. The President or either house of Con- 
gress may direct the Commission to investigate and 
report the facts relating to any alleged violations of the 
Anti-Trust Acts. The Commission may also, upon the 
application of the Attorney-General, investigate and 
make recommendations for the readjustment of the 
business of any corporation alleged to be violating the 
Anti-Trust Acts in order that the corporation may 
thereafter maintain its organization, management, and 
conduct of business in accordance with law. The Com- 
mission may also make annual and special reports to 
Congress containing recommendations for additional 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 235 

legislation, and it may investigate any combinations 
or practice of manufacturers, merchants, or traders 
that may affect the foreign trade of the United States. 
There is also a very interesting provision in the act 
that in any suit in equity brought by or under the direc- 
tion of the Attorney-General, as provided in the Anti- 
Trust Acts, the court may refer the testimony in the 
case to the Federal Trade Commission, which is em- 
powered to act as a master in chancery to ascertain 
and report to the court an appropriate form of decree 
to be passed in the pending suit. The Federal Trade 
Commission, as I have pointed out, is not subject to the 
jurisdiction of any existing executive department, but 
the several departments and bureaus of the Govern- 
ment, when directed by the President, are required to 
furnish the Commission any records, papers, and in- 
formation in their possession relating to any corpora- 
tion subject to any of the provisions of the act, and, if 
requested, shall detail from time to time such officials 
and employees to assist the Commission as the Presi- 
dent may direct. The Commission is endowed with 
power to compel the attendance of witnesses and to 
enforce its findings through the courts of the United 
States. Penalties are provided for failure by any cor- 
poration to file the reports required by the Commis- 
sion. From this summary of the functions of the Com- 
mission, it will be seen that it possesses far-reaching 
and very important powers. What it can do and what 
it may not attempt will doubtless be the subject of 
much litigation in the courts of the United States. The 



236 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE i 

problem of the relation of the Federal Government to i 
the large business interests of the country is one of the | 
most important questions at present unsolved. For the .; 
purposes of this consideration, the Federal Trade Com- I 
mission is interesting chiefly because it adds very great i 
additional powers to the Federal Executive, and be- | 
cause, like the Interstate Commerce Commission, it is I 
an arm of the Federal Executive which at the present \ 
time is not under the direct supervision of any of the I 
heads of the ten existing executive departments. - 

A Department of Education, a Department of Trans- ] 
portation, and a Department of Interstate Trade are i 
possibilities for future executive departments. It may ) 
be that three independent departments may come 
within the next few years; it may be that the regulation ; 
of transportation, regulation of interstate business, and j 
the regulation of telephone and telegraph facilities may : 
all be combined in one executive department, which ] 
might well bear the name of the Department of Domes- ] 
tic Commerce. I do not think it advisable, however, 1 
that the number of members of the Cabinet be greatly " 
increased, and it may be that a general reorganization } 

of all the executive departments will take place in order I 

j 

to provide for those matters which are now outside of ] 
the supervision of the members of the Cabinet. In any 1 
such reorganization of the federal executive depart- I 
ments, it will be well to bear in mind the criticism of ] 
Senator Hale, of Maine, at the time when the Depart- j 
ment of Commerce and Labor was created. "The bill," ■ 
said Senator Hale, "is called a" bill to establish the i 



PROBABLE DEVELOPMENTS 237 

Department of Commerce, and the subject-matters that 
are in it have not so much relation to commerce as light 
has to darkness. Why should the Census Bureau — a 
bureau made of internal consequence, internal business, 
in a great department, dealing with the internal affairs 
of the country, the population of the country — why 
should that be put into the Department of Commerce? "^ 
When the Interior Department was organized, it took 
from the existing departments most of the miscellane- 
ous matters which did not properly belong to the exist- 
ing departments. When the Department of Commerce 
and Labor was organized in 1903, again from the exist- 
ing departments were taken many of the unrelated 
matters which had been imposed upon those depart- 
ments. When the time comes for the creation of a new 
department in the Federal Executive, it is to be hoped 
that a logical rearrangement of the functions of the 
various departments will be made. The possibilities for 
development of the United States are boundless, and 
as I said at the beginning of these studies, there is noth- 
ing which better indicates the development of this na- 
tion than the amazing increase in the power and the 
functions of the Federal Executive. In the future it is 
to be expected that the functions of the Federal Execu- 
tive will become broader and more far-reaching as the 
natural development of the nation continues. 

T Organization and Law of the Department of Commerce and 
Labor (1904), p. 438. 



APPENDIX 



LIST OF PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESIDENTS AND THE 
LENGTH OF SERVICE RENDERED 



■ Presidents 


Vice-Presidents 


Service 


George Washington 


John Adams 


Apr. 


30, 


1789-Mar. 


3, 


1797 


John Adams 


Thomas Jefferson 


Mar. 


4, 


1797-Mar. 


3, 


1801 


Thomas Jefferson 


Aaron Burr 


Mar. 


4, 


1801-Mar. 


3, 


1805 


Thomas Jefferson 


George Clinton 


Mar. 


4, 


1805-Mar. 


3, 


1809 


James Madison 


George Clinton 

(died Apr. 20, 1812) 


Mar. 


4, 


1809-Mar. 


3, 


1813 


James Madison 


Elbridge Gerry 

(died Nov. 23, 1814) 


Mar. 


4, 


1813-Mar. 


3, 


1817 


James Monroe 


Daniel D. Tompkins 


Mar. 


4, 


1817-Mar. 


3, 


1825 


John Quincy Adams 


John C. Calhoun 


Mar. 


4, 


1825-Mar. 


3, 


1829 


Andrew Jackson 


John C. Calhoun (resigned 
Dec. 28, to become U.S. 
Senator) 

Martin Van Buren 


Mar. 


4, 


1829-Mar. 


3, 


1833, 


Andrew Jackson 


Mar. 


4, 


1833-Mar. 


3, 


1837 


Martin Van Buren 


Richard M. Johnson 


Mar. 


4, 


1837-Mar. 


3, 


1841 


William Henry Har- 














rison 


John Tyler 


Mar. 


4, 


1841-Apr. 


4, 


1841 


John Tyler 




Apr. 


-6, 


1841-Mar. 


3, 


1845 


James K. Polk 


George M. Dallas 


Mar. 


4, 


1845-Mar. 


3, 


1849 


Zachary Taylor 


Millard Fillmore 


Mar. 


5, 


1849-July 


9, 


1850 


Millard Fillmore 




July 


10, 


1850-Mar. 


3, 


1853 


Franklin Pierce 


William R. King (died Apr. 
18, 1853) 


■ Mar. 


-4, 


1853-Mar. 


3, 


1857 


James Buchanan 


John C. Breckinridge 


Mar. 


4, 


1857-Mar. 


3, 


1861 


Abraham Lincoln 


Hannibal Hamlin 


Mar. 


4, 


1861-Mar. 


3, 


1865 


Abraham Lincoln 


Andrew Johnson 


Mar. 


4, 


1865-Apr. 


15, 


1865 


Andrew Johnson 




Apr. 


15, 


1865-Mar. 


3, 


1869 


Ulysses S. Grant 


Schuyler Colfax 


Mar. 


4, 


1869-Mar. 


3, 


1873 


Ulysses S. Grant 


Henry Wilson 

(died Nov. 22, 1875) 


Mar. 


4, 


1873-Mar. 


3, 


1877 


Rutherford B. 5 














Hayes 


WilUam A. Wheeler 


Mar. 


4, 


1877-Mar. 


3, 


1881 


James A. Garfield 


Chester A. Arthur 


Mar. 


4, 


1881-Sept. 


19 


1881 


Chester A. Arthur 




Sept. 


20, 


1881-Mar. 


3, 


1885 


Grover Cleveland 


Thomas A. Hendricks 
(died Nov. 25, 1885) 


Mar. 


4, 


1885-Mar. 


3, 


1889 


Benjamin Harrison 


Levi P. Morton 


Mar. 


4, 


1889-Mar. 


3, 


1893 


Grover Cleveland 


Adlai E. Stevenson 


Mar. 


4, 


1893-Mar. 


3, 


1897 


William McKinley 


Garrett A. Hobart 
(died Nov. 21, 1899) 


Mar. 


4, 


1897-Mar. 


3 


1901 


William McKinley 


Theodore Roosevelt 


Mar. 


4, 


1901-Sept. 


14 


1901 


Theodore Roosevelt 




Sept. 


14 


1901-Mar. 


3 


1905 


Theodore Roosevelt 


Charles W. Fairbanks 


Mar. 


4 


1905-Mar. 


3 


1909 


William H. Taft 


James S. Sherman 


Mar. 


4 


1909-Mar. 


3, 


1913 


Woodrow Wilson 


Thomas R. Marshall 


Mar. 


4 


1913- 







The fact that several Presidents served two terms with different Vice-Presidents 
will account for the repetition of the names of the Presidents. It will be seen from 
the above list that there have been thirty-five presidential terms of office, although 
some of these terms, as in the case of President Roosevelt's first service, were not for 
a full elective term. There have been twenty-seven Presidents. 



B 

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
OF AMERICA 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, pro- 
vide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and 
secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America. 

Article I 

Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested 
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate 
and House of Representatives. 

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several 
States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications 
requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State 
Legislature. 

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained 
to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of 
the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabit- 
ant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

[Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may be included within this Union, accord- 
ing to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by add- 
ing to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to 
Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three 
fifths of all other Persons.] ^ 

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after 
the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within 
every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall 
by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed 
one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least 
one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the 
State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachu- 

* The clause included in brackets is amended jby the Fourteenth Amendment, 
second section. 



APPENDIX 241 

setts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Con- 
necticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, 
Delaware one, Maryland Six, Virginia ten. North Carolina five, 
South Carolina five and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, 
the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to 
fill such Vacancies. 

The House of Representatives chall chuse their Speaker and 
other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed 
of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, 
for six years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the 
first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated 
at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the 
Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expira- 
tion of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second 
Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during 
the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof 
may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the 
Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. 

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that 
State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President 
pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall 
exercise the Oflfice of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. 
When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirma- 
tion. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief 
Justice shall preside; And no Person shall be convicted without the 
Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further 
than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy 
any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States; but 
the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to 
Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. 



242 APPENDIX 

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections 
for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State 
by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by 
Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of 
chusing Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and 
such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless 
they shall by Law appoint a different Day. 

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, 
Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of 
each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Num- 
ber may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel 
the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under 
such Penalties as each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish 
its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of 
two thirds, expel a Member. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their 
Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members 
of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of 
those Present, be entered on the Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without 
the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor 
to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sit- 
ting. 

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a 
Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and 
paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all 
Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privi- 
leged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their 
respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; 
and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be 
questioned in any other place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which 
he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority 
of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emolu- 
ments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no 
Person holding any Oifice under the United States, shall be a 
Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. 

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the 



APPENDIX 243 

House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur 
with Amendments as on other Bills. 

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall before it become a Law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but 
if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which 
it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on 
their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Recon- 
sideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it 
shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by 
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two 
thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases 
the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, 
and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall 
be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill 
shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays 
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall 
be a Law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress 
by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall 
not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of 
the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except 
on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President 
of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall 
be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be passed 
by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, accord- 
ing to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect 
Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide 
for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; 
but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout 
the United States; 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States; 

To regulate Commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the 
several States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws 
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

To coin Money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign Coin,' 
and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
and current Coin of the United States; 



244 APPENDIX 

To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

To promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing 
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right 
to their respective Writings and Discoveries; 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the 
high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations; 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make 
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money 
to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two years; 

To provide and maintain a Navy; 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land 
and naval Forces; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the 
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, 
and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the 
Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, 
the appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the 
Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over 
such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession 
of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the 
Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like 
Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legisla- 
ture of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of 
Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful Build- 
ings; — And 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry- 
ing into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers 
vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, 
or in any Department or Officer thereof. 

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as 
any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall 
not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand 
eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such 
Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. 

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be sus- 
pended unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public 
Safety may require it. 



APPENDIX 245 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Pro- 
portion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to 
be taken. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce 
or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor 
shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, 
or pay Duties in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence 
of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and 
Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money 
shall be published from time to time. I 

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States; 
And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, 
shall without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present. 
Emolument, Office or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, 
Prince, or foreign State. 

Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance or 
Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money, 
emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a 
Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post 
facto Law, or Law impairing the obligation of Contracts, or grant 
any Title of Nobility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any 
Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be 
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws; and the 
net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Im- 
ports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United 
States, and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Con- 
troul of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty 
of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter 
into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a for- 
eign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such 
imminent Danger as will not admit of delay. 

Article II 
Section 1. The Executive Power shall be vested in a President 
of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during 
the Term of four Years, and, together, with the Vice-President, 
chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: 



246 APPENDIX 

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature 
thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Num- 
ber of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be en- 
titled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or Person 
holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall 
be appointed an Elector. 

[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by 
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhab- 
itant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a 
List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for 
each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed 
to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the 
President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the 
Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all 
the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person 
having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such 
Number be a Majority of the whole Number, of Electors appointed; 
and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have 
an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall 
immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no 
Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the 
said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing 
the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Represen- 
tation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose 
shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the 
States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
Choice. In every case, after the Choice of the President, the Per- 
son having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be 
the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who 
have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot 
the Vice-President.] ^ 

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, 
and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall 
be the same throughout the United States. 

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the 
United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, 
shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Per- 
son be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the 
Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident 
within the United States. 

*_Thi3 clause has been superseded by the Twelfth Amendment. 



APPENDIX ' 247 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his 
Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and 
Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-Presi- 
dent, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Re- 
moval, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and 
Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, 
and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be re- 
moved, or a President shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a 
Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished 
during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall 
not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the 
United States or any of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the 
following Oath or Affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United 
States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and 
defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the 
several States, when called into the actual Service of the United 
States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal 
Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject 
relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have 
the Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against 
the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of 
the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators 
present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Ad- 
vice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other 
public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and 
all other Officers of the United States, whose appointments are 
not herein otherwise provided for and which shall be established 
by Law; but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of 
such inferior Officers as they think proper, in the President alone, 
in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. 

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may 
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions 
which shall expire at the End of their next session. 

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress 
Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their 



248 APPENDIX 

Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and ex- 
pedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, 
or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with 
Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to 
such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors 
and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be 
faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the 
United States. 

Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers 
of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeach- 
ment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high 
Crimes and Misdemeanors. 

Article III 

Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be 
vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the 
Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, 
both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices 
during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their 
Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during 
their Continuance in Office. 

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law 
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the 
United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under 
their Authority; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other 
public Ministers and Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty and 
Maritime Jurisdiction; — to Controversies to which the United 
States shall be a Party; — to Controversies between two or more 
States; — between a State and Citizens of another State; — be- 
tween Citizens of different States — between Citizens of the same 
State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between 
a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Sub- 
jects. 

In all cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a Party, the supreme 
Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before 
mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, 
both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such 
Regulations as the Congress shall make. 

The trial of all Crimes, except in cases of Impeachment, shall 
be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said 



APPENDIX 249 

Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within 
any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress 
may by Law have directed. 

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist 
only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, 
giving them Aid and Comfort. No person s:hall be convicted of 
Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same 
overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. 

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of 
Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of 
Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. 

Article IV 

Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State 
to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other 
State. And the Congress may by general Laws, prescribe the 
Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be 
proved, and the Effect thereof. 

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. 

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other 
Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, 
shall on demand of the executive Authority of the State from which 
he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdic- 
tion of the Crime. 

No Person held to Service or Labor in one State, under the Laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law 
or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labor, 
but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such 
Service or Labor may be due. 

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into 
this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the 
Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junc- 
tion of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent 
of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all need- 
ful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Prop- 
erty belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitu- 
tion shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United 
States, or of any particular State. 

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State i^ 



250 APPENDIX 

this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect 
each of them against invasion; and on Application of the Legisla- 
ture, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) 
against domestic Violence. 

Article V 
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem 
it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, 
on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several 
States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, 
in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of 
this Constitution, when.ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths 
of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as 
the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the 
Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior 
to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any 
manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of 
the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be 
deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. 

Article VI 

All debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the 
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall 
be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be 
bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State 
to the Contrary notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and 
judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, 
shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; 
but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any 
Office or public Trust under the United States. 

Article VII 
, The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be suffi- 
cient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States 
so ratifying the Same. 



APPENDIX 



:25i 



Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States 
present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the Independ- 
ence of the United States of America the Twelfth. IN WITNESS 
whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, 

Go. Washington 
Presidt, and deputy from Virginia. 



John Langdon 



Nathaniel Gorham 



Wm. Saml. Johnson 



New Hampshire 

Nicholas Gilman 

Massachusetts 

Rurus King 

Connecticut 

Roger Sherman 



New York 



Alexander Hamilton 



WiL: Livingston 
David Brearley 



B. Franklin 
RoBT. Morris 
Thos. Fitzsimons 
James Wilson 



Geo. Read 
John Dickinson 
Jaco: Broom 



James McHenry 
Danl. Carroll 



John Blair 



New Jersey 

Wm. Patterson 
Jona: Dayton 

Pennsylvania 

Thomas Mifflin 
Geo, Clymer 
Jared Ingersoll 
Gouv. Morris 

Delaware 

Gunning Bedford, Jun. 
Richard Bassett 

Maryland 

Dan. of St. Thos. Jenifer 

Virginia 

James Madison, Jr. 



252 APPENDIX 

North Carolina 
Wm. Blount Richd. Dobbs Spaight 

Hu. Williamson 

South Carolina 
H. RuTLBDGE Charles Cotesworth Pinck- 

NEY 

Charles Pincknby Pierce Butler 

Georgia 
William Few Abr. Baldwin 

Attest: William Jackson, Secretary. 

Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Consti- 
tution of the United States of America, proposed by 
Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the Several 
States, Pursuant to the Fifth Article of the original 
Constitution. 

Article I 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of reli- 
gion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the free- 
dom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably 
to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of griev- 
ances. ^ 

Article II 
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be 
infringed. 

1 The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States were pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the First Congress, on the 25th 
of September, 1789. They were ratified by the following States, and the notifica- 
tions of ratification by the governors thereof were successively communicated by 
the President to Congress: New Jersey, November 20, 1789; Maryland, December 
19, 1789; North Carolina, December 22, 1789; South Carolina, January 19, 1790; 
New Hampshire, January 25, 1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; Pennsylvania, 
March 10, 1790; New York, March 27, 1790; Rhode Island, June 15, 1790; Ver- 
mont, November 3, 1791, and Virginia, December 15, 1791. There is no evidence on 
the journals of Congress that the legislatures of Connecticut, Georgia, and Massa- 
chusetts ratified them. 



APPENDIX 253 

Article III 
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, 
without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a 
manner to be prescribed by law. 

Article IV 
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, 
shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon prob- 
able cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly 
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be 
seized. 

Article V 
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infa- 
mous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, 
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, 
when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any 
person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy 
of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a 
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for 
public use, without just compensation. 

Article VI 
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to 
a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and 
district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which dis- 
trict shall have been previously ascertained by law; and to be 
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be con- 
fronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process 
for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of 
Counsel for his defence. 

Article VII 
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall 
exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, 
and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any 
Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the com- 
mon law. 



254 APPENDIX 

Article VIII 
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

Article IX 
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not 
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

Article X 
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people. 

Article XI 
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed 
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted 
against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or 
by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.^ 

Article XII 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by 
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, 
shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they 
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in 
distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they 
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and 
of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of 
votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit 
sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed 
to the President of the Senate; — 

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the 
votes shall then be counted; — The person having the greatest num- 
ber of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be 
a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no 
person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest 
numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as Presi- 

1 The Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Third Congress, on the 5th of 
March, 1794; and was declared in a message from the President to Congress, dated 
the 8th of January, 1798, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three fourths 
of the States, 



APPENDIX 255 

dent, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by 
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes 
shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having 
one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the 
states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Repre- 
sentatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice 
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next fol- 
lowing, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case 
of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. 
— The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, 
shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a major- 
ity, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall 
choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist 
of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of 
the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person 
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible 
to that of Vice-President of the United States. ^ 

Article XIII 

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as 
a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject 
to their jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. ^ 

Article XIV 

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, 

and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 

States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or 

enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 

1 The Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Eighth Congress, on the 12th 
of December, 1803, in lieu of the original third paragraph of the first section of the 
second article; and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated 
the 25th of September, 1804, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three fourths 
of the States. 

2 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on 
the 1st of February, 1865, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of 
State, dated the 18th of December, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures 
of twenty-seven of the thirty-six States. 



256 APPENDIX 

of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any 
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor 
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of 
the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the 
several States according to their respective numbers, counting the 
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not 
taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of 
electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, 
Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of 
a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any 
of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of 
age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except 
for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of represen- 
tation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number 
of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 
twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any 
office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, 
who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or 
as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legis- 
lature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support 
the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insur- 
rection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the 
enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each 
House, remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pen- 
sions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebel- 
lion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor 
any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid 
of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim 
for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obliga- 
tions and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro- 
priate legislation, the provisions of this article. ^ 

1 The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-ninth Congress, on the 
16th of June, 1866. The Secretary of State issued a proclamation, dated the 28th 
of July, 1868, declaring that the amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of 
thirty of the thirty-six States. 



APPENDIX 257 

Article XV 

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. ^ 

Article XVI 
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on 
incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment 
among the several States, and without regard to any census or enu- 
meration.2 

Article XVII 

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Sena- 
tors from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; 
and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State 
shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numer- 
ous branch of the State legislatures. 

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the 
Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of 
election to fill such vacancies; Provided, That the legislature of any 
State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary ap- 
pointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the 
legislature may direct. 

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the elec- 
tion or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part 
of the Constitution.* 

1 The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro- 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth Congress on the 27th 
of February, 1869, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, 
dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-nine of 
the thirty-seven States. 

2 The joint resolution proposing this amendment was passed by the Sixty-first 
Congress at the First Session, begun and held on the 15th of March, 1909, and was 
declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated February 25, 1913, to 
have been ratified by thirty-eight of the forty-eight States. 

' This amendment was submitted to the States for ratification by joint resolu- 
tion of the Sixty-second Congress, Second Session, beginning December 4, 1911. 
This resolution provided that in lieu of the first paragraph of Section 3 of Article I 
of the Constitution of the United States, and in lieu of so much of paragraph 2 of the 
same section as relates to the filling of vacancies, the above be proposed as an 
amendment to the Constitution, to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of 
the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the States. 
This amendment was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated 
May 31, 1913, to have been ratified by thirty-six of the forty-eight States. 



INDEX 



Adams, John, President, relation 
to Cabinet, 43; on the status 
of the Vice-President, 48; on 
President's power of removal, 
58; recommendations as to 
executive departments, 200; 
Jefferson, 203. 

Adams, J. Q., recommended 
additional executive depart- 
ments, 207. 

Admiralty, British, compared 
with Navy Department, 131. 

Advisory Coimcil, the Cabinet 
as an, 41. 

Aerial Mail Service, 193. 

Agriculture, accorded represen- 
tation in Cabinet, 31; value of 
products of, 168. 

Agriculture, Department of, cre- 
ation of, 31, 161; compared 
with English Board of Agri- 
culture, 161; phenomenal 
growth of the, 170; recom- 
mended by President Hayes, 
212; raised to executive rank, 
213. 

Agriculture, English Board of, 
161. 

Alaska fishing industry, 176. 

Alaska reindeer service, 114. 

Animal Industry, Bureau of, 
166. 

Anson, Sir William, on the 
English Postmaster-General, 
185. 



Anti-Trust Acts, prosecutions 
under the, 155; the Federal 
Trade Commission and, 234. 

Appointment, the power of, 
basis of President's adminis- 
trative power, 13. 

Armies, foreign, comparative size 
and cost, 126. 

Army, President Taft on ex- 
penses and inadequacy of the, 
87; General Staff of the, 124; 
universal military service, 125; 
the " Continental Army" plan, 
125; inadequacy and high cost 
of the, 126; General Wother- 
spoon on the inadequacy of 
the, 128; Secretary Stimson on 
the inadequacy of the, 129; 
diffusion of posts and garri- 
sons, 130; congressional inter- 
ference with the, 135; training 
of officers, 136; English train- 
ing in, 136 ; President Roose- 
velt, on lack of preparedness of 
the, 142. See Militia. 

Army reforms, congressional op- 
position to, 130. 

Arthur, President, on decline of 
merchant marine, 213. 

Attorney-General, the, early 
status of, 3, 22; original pro- 
vision for, 21; always consid- 
ered a member of the Cabinet, 
23; relation to Judiciary, 144; 
duties of, 149; Jackson's rec- 



260 



INDEX 



ommendations as to, 210; 
relation to federal courts, 228. 

Attorney-Generalship, develop- 
ment of, 3; office an innova- 
tion, 22. 

Auditors of the Treasury, 94. 

Austria-Hungary, sea strength 
of navy, 142. 

Bancroft, George, Secretary of 
Navy, founded Naval Acad- 
emy, 136; account by, of 
Foundation of Naval Acad- 
emy, 138. 

Banks, national, 96. 

Barry, Wm. T., Postmaster- 
General, admitted to Cabinet, 
24, 208. 

"Bath-Tub Trust," 155. 

Boudinot, Elias, relation to cre- 
ation of original departments, 
16. 

Breckenridge, Henry, Assistant 
Secretary of War, 125. 

Bryce, Lord, opinion as to in- 
creasing influence of United 
States, 1; on the Cabinet, 41. 

Buchanan, President, relation to 
Cabinet, 44. 

Burleson, Postmaster-General, 
on postal finances, 189; on 
government control of tele- 
graphs and telephones, 224. 

Cabinet, creation of, 12; the 
first, 21; inclusion of Post- 
master-General in, 24; devel- 
opment of, 27; status of the, 
41; the English, 41; not pro- 
vided by Constitution or laws, 
42; relation of Lincoln to his. 



44; Wilson on relation of Pre- 
sident to, 44; seats of members 
in Congress, 45; and the Vice- 
President, 47; meetings, 47; im- 
peachment of members of, 61, 
64; Presidential succession of 
members of, 61; character of 
Washington's, 199; Washing- 
ton's first, 201; procedure 
under Washington and Ad- 
ams, 201; attitude of Jackson 
to his, 208; the future of the, 
217. 

Carroll of CarroUton, Charles, 
Senator, position on titles for 
President, 50; on President's 
power of removal, 59; on the 
Army, 127; and the Judiciary 
Bill, 143. 

Census, Washington on the 
first, 158. 

Census, Bureau of the, 173. 

Chief Clerk, duties of, 71. 

Chief Executives, and the devel- 
opment of the executive de- 
partments, 194. 

Civil servants, need of training- 
school for, 137. 

Civil service, the Federal, 73. 

Civil-Service Commission, 72; 
relation to a new Department 
of Education, 220. 

Civil War, the navy in the, 
134. 

Claxton, P. P., Commissioner of 
Education, on a future De- 
partment of Education, 221. 

Cleveland, President, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture raised to 
executive rank by, 213. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey, 177. 



INDEX 



261 



Coast Guard Service, consolida- 
tion of Revenue Cutter and 
Life-Saving Services, 90. 

Colleges, training for Govern- 
ment service in, 138. 

Colman, Norman, J., first Secre- 
tary of Agriculture, 31. 

Commerce, President Grant on, 
213. 

Commerce, Bureau of Foreign 
and Domestic, 174. 

Commerce, Department of, the 
solicitor for, 153; functions of 
the, 172. 

Commerce and Labor, Depart- 
ment of, 31; reasons for crea- 
tion of, 171 ; recommended by 
President Roosevelt, 213. 

Commercial interests accorded 
representation in Cabinet, 32. 

Comptroller of the Treasury, 
94. 

Confederation, Articles of, gov- 
ernment under, 8; no provi- 
sion for executive depart- 
ments, 14; the Executive 
under the, 15. 

Congress, relation of Cabinet to, 
60; party leadership of Presi- 
dent and, 92; " government by 
mass-meeting," 92; opposition 
to army reforms, 130; Consti- 
tutional powers of, 243. See 
President; Cabinet. 

Constitution, the, 240. 

Consular Service, need of train- 
ing for, 138. 

" Continental Army " plan, 125. 

Continental Congress, powers of, 
7; executive machinery of, 15. 

Corporations, Bureau of, 160; 



merged in Federal Trade 
Commission, 172. 

Corporations and the Federal 
Trade Commission, 232. 

Cortelyou, George B., first Sec- 
retary of Commerce and 
Labor, 33. 

Cotton production, value of, 169. 

Courts of the United States. 
See Judiciary. 

Crimes, federal procedure in 
prosecution of, 147. 

Criminal code, the, 156. 

Gushing, Caleb, services in de- 
velopment of office of Attor- 
ney-General, 38. 

Customs duties, 90. 

Defense, national, Washington 
on, 118, 140; relation of pen- 
sions to the, 119; universal 
military service only adequate 
solution of, 125; inadequacy 
of army for, 128; General 
Wotherspoon on inadequacy 
of army, 128; Taft on mili- 
tary policy, 126; should not be 
party question, 134; inade- 
quacy of navy for, 141; Roose- 
velt on, 142; the National 
Security Congress, 142; Adams 
on the relation of the navy to, 
200; Lodge on the state of the 
navy, 142. See Army; Navy; 
Militia. 

Diplomatic service, ■ need of 
training for, 138. 

District Attorneys, 146. 

Domestic tranquillity, functions 
of the executive departments 
in insuring, 121. 



262 



INDEX 



Education, Commissioner of, 
112. 

Education, Department of, pos- 
sibility considered, 34, 219, 
236; need of, 137; opinion of 
Commissioner of Education 
Claxton, 222. 

Electors, Presidential, 254. 

Elliot, Howard, railroad presi- 
dent, on a Department of 
Transportation, 231. 

Ellsworth, Senator, on status of 
Vice-President, 49. 

England, executive departments 
of, 132; sea strength of navy 
of, 142. 

English army, training in, 136. 

English Board of Agriculture, 
161. 

English Cabinet, the, 41. 

English Postmaster-General, 
185. 

Ewing, Thomas, first Secretary 
of the Interior, 30, 105; recom- 
mended Bureau of Agricul- 
ture, 161. 

Executive departments, creation 
of, 12; meager constitutional 
provision for, 14; development 
of, 27; comparison of under- 
lying theories in creation of 
original and later, 30; status of 
heads of, 52; organization of, 
65; summary of organization 
of, 67; functions of, in main- 
taining a "more perfect Un- 
ion," 76; compared with those 
of France, 97; compared with 
those of Switzerland, 97; lack 
of coordination of, 99; func- 
tions of, in "insuring domestic 



tranquillity," 121; compared 
with those of England, 133; 
functions of, "in promoting 
the general welfare," 158; il- 
logical distribution of func- 
tions of, 159; functions of, in 
securing certain of the "bless- 
ings of liberty," 182; the Chief 
Executive and the develop- 
ment of the, 194; probable 
developments in, 215; need of 
reorganization of, 218, 236; 
underlying tendency in the 
development of, 222. 

Executive power, the, great in- 
crease of the, 6, 27; Mr. Jus- 
tice Thompson on, 54; influ- 
ence of Washington on, 199; 
under the Constitution, 245. 
See President. 

Expenditures of the Govern- 
ment, analysis of, 86. 

Experts, use in Government, 137. 

Fair lie, John A., on Bureau of 
Education, 112. 

Far-Eastern Affairs, Division 
of, 83. 

Federal Executive, and railroad- 
building, 106; growth of power 
of, 216. 

Federal Government, the, gen- 
eral consideration of, 1, 7. 

Federalists, Jackson and the, 211. 

Fisheries, Bureau of, 176. 

Fishing industries, 176. 

Fiske, John, on status of Presi- 
dent, 5. 

Foreign Affairs, State Depart- 
ment originally Department 
of, 16; duties of, 17. 



INDEX 



263 



Foreign relations, cared for by 
State Department, 79. 

Forests, German, 163. 

Forests, National, 163. 

Forest Service, 162. 

France, executive departments 
of, 97; size and cost of army on 
peace basis, 127; sea strength 
of navy of, 142. 

Franking privilege, abuse of, 
190. 

Frauds, postal, 192. 

Gardner, A. P., 140. 

Garrison, Secretary of War, 125. 

Gary, James A., Postmaster- 
General, 185. 

General Land Office, 107. 

General Staff of the Army, 124. 

General welfare, functions of the 
executive departments in pro- 
moting the, 158. 

Geological Survey, 107. 

German forests, 163. 

Germany, size and cost of army 
on peace basis, 127 ; sea 
strength of navy of, 142. 

Gerry, Elbridge, States' Rights 
and the early Executive, 3. 

Goodnow, President of Johns 
Hopkins University, on the 
executive power of the Presi- 
dent, 13; on the power of 
removal, 56. 

Government, English, 133. 

Grant, President, and the De- 
partment of Justice, 210; on 
Commerce, 213. 

Hale, Senator, on status of In- 
terstate Commerce Commis- 



sion, 227; on department co5r- 
dination, 236. 

Hamilton, Alexander, probable 
opinion as to power of Presi- 
dent, 10; first Secretary of the 
Treasury, 21; influence on 
Federal Executive, 201. 

Harrison, Benjamin, President, 
on merchant marine, 213. 

Haskin, Frederick J., on postal 
deficit, 189. 

Hayes, President, recommended 
Department of Agriculture, 
212. 

Hitchcock, Frank H., Post- 
master-General, reforms of, 
185, 189; and the parcel post, 
186; and the postal savings 
system, 191. 

Hoar, Senator, on status of In- 
terstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, 228. 

Home Department. See Depart- 
ment of the Interior. 

Home Office, Lowell on English, 
96. 

Immigration, Bureau of, 180. 

Impeachment of Cabinet offi- 
cers, 60. 

Impeachment, extent of, 241. 

Indian affairs, 114. 

Indians, relation of the Govern- 
ment to, 116; wealth and 
status of, 117. 

Interior, Department of the, 
creation of, shows increased 
power of the Executive, 27; 
creation of, 28; functions of, 
96; reasons for creation of, 99, 
101; former supervision of 



264 



INDEX 



railroads by, 105; recom- 
mended by Madison, 204; 
recommended by J. Q. Ad- 
ams, 207; recommended by 
Jackson, 210. 

Internal revenue, 93. 

Internal revenue, Solicitor of, 
152. 

Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, nucleus of a possible 
Department of Railroads, 224; 
status considered, 226. 

Interstate Trade, Department 
of, possibility of, 236. 

Italy, sea strength of navy of, 
142. 

Jackson, Andrew, President, in- 
cludes Postmaster-General in 
Cabinet, 24; relation to Cabi- 
net, 208; recommended addi- 
tional executive departments, 
209; and extension of Federal 
Executive, 211. 

Japan, sea strength of navy of, 
142. 

Jay, John, Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs under Confederation, 
20. 

Jefferson, Thomas, first Secre- 
tary of State, 21; as President, 
relation to Cabinet, 44; atti- 
tude on executive power, 201; 
on procedure in the Cabinets 
of Washington and Adams, 
201. 

Johnson, President, relation to 
Cabinet, 44. 

Jones, Commodore John Paul, 
plan for Executive depart- 
ments, 15. 



Judicial functions of the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission, 
227. 

Judiciary Bill, 143. 

Judiciary, the federal, 145; rela- 
tion of Attorney-General to 
Federal Courts, 228; the con- 
stitutional powers of, 248. 

Justice, Department of, func- 
tions of, illustrate power of 
Federal Executive, 5; develop- 
ment of, 35; creation of, 38; 
functions of, 146; organiza- 
tion of, 148; recommended by 
Madison, 204. 

Justice, foreign ministers of, and 
the Attorney-General, 144. 

Kitchen Cabinet, Jackson's, 

208. 
Knox, Henry, first Secretary of 

War, 21, 115. 

Labor, Department of, indica- 
tion of increased power of Ex- 
ecutive, 10; creation of, 33; 
functions of, 178; policy of, 
179; labor organizations and, 
180; discussed under various 
administrations, 214. 

Labor, Secretary of, mediation 
in industrial disputes, 180. 

Lands, Government, extent and 
value of, 308. 

Lane, Secretary of the Interior, 
on the Indians, 117. 

Langdon, John, Senator, 50. 

Latin-American Affairs, Divi- 
sion of, 82. 

Learned, Dr., on position of first 
Attorney-General, 22. 



INDEX 



265 



Legislative powers, under the 
Constitution, 240. 

Lincoln, President, relation to 
Cabinet, 44. 

Lodge, Henry Cabot, Senator, 
on inadequacy of the navy, 
142; on Washington's Cabi- 
net, 199. 

Lowell, President of Harvard 
University, on the English 
Attorney-General, 22; on Eng- 
lish Home Office, 96; on the 
English Admiralty, 131; on the 
English navy, 135; on English 
Board of Agriculture, 162. 

Maclay, William, Senator, on 
the Status of the Vice-Presi- 
dent, 48; on the Constitution: 
his Journal, 51; on the federal 
courts, 143. 

MacVeagh, Franklin, Secretary 
of Treasury, 86. 

McHenry, Secretary of War, 2. 

Mcllhenny, John A., President 
of Civil Service Commission, 
74. 

McLean, John, Postmaster- 
General, 208. 

Madison, President, recom- 
mendation for additional de- 
partments, 203; J. Q. Adams 
on, 206. 

Mahan, Admiral, 135. 

Mails, fraudulent use of the, 
192. 

Manufacturing interests ac- 
corded representation in 
Cabinet, 32. 

" Mass meeting, government 
by," 92. 



Merchant marine, Presidential 
recommendations as to, 213. 

Mexican Affairs, Division of, 
120; formerly in Division of 
Latin-American Affairs, 82. 

Military policy. President Taft 
on, 126, 130. 

Militia Affairs, Division of, 
125. 

Militia, place of, in national 
defense, 125; General Wother- 
spoon on the, 128; constitu- 
tional status of the, 252. 

Mines, Bureau of, 107. 

Money orders, 190. 

Monroe, Secretary of State, on 
the status of the Attorney- 
General, 3, 23; President, 
advocated extending execu- 
tive power, 205. 

Morris, Gouverneur, plan for 
executive departments, 15. 

National Security League, 142. 

Naval Academy, as training- 
school, 136; foundation of, 
138. 

Navies, foreign, comparison of, 
142. 

Navy, Department of the, 
created, 25; compared with 
the British Admiralty, 132. 

Navy, President Taft on ex- 
penses of the, 87; a matter for 
experts, 135; training of offi- 
cers for, 136; strength of, in 
1789, 140; inadequacy of, 141; 
summary of vessels of, in 
1915, 141; Senator Lodge on 
the state of the, 142; active 
personnel, comparative state- 



266 



INDEX 



ment of, 142; comparative sea 
strength of, 142; warship ton- 
nage of the principal naval 
powers, 142; President Adams 
on the, 200. 

Navy, Secretary of, original 
duties of, 25. 

Near-Eastern Affairs, Division 
of, 83. 

Ogg, Frederick A., on govern- 
ments of Europe, 97. 

Oleomargarine, tax on, 93. 

Organization of the executive 
departments, 65. 

Panama Canal, 123; General 
Wotherspoon on lack of de- 
fense of, 129. 

Parcel post service, 186. 

Parks, National, 110. 

Parties, political, relation to the 
President as a party leader, 6, 
9, 11, 91, 218, 223. 

Patent Office, 110. 

Pensions, Bureau of, 118. 

Pensions, President Taft on, 87; 
relation of, to national defense, 
118. 

Peters, Assistant Secretary of 
the Treasury, 120. 

Philippine Islands, 123. 

Phillips, Third Assistant Secre- 
tary of State, 120. 

Polk, President, recommended 
reorganization of executive 
departments, 212. 

Pontgibaud, Chevalier de, opin- 
ion of, as to simplicity of early 
administration, 2, 

Population in 1791 and 1916, 158. 



Postal savings system, 190. 

Postmaster-General, the, not 
originally a member of the 
Cabinet, 24; becomes a mem- 
ber of the Cabinet, 24; duties 
of, 183. 

Postmaster-General, First As- 
sistant, duties of, 186. 

Postmaster-General, Second As- 
sistant, duties of, 186. 

Postmaster-General, the Eng- 
lish, 185. 

Post-Office Department, the, 
182; establishment of, 24; par- 
cel post service, 186; finances, 
189; money orders, 190; postal 
savings system, 190; in ad- 
ministration of Monroe, 205; 
Jackson on the, 210; relation 
of, to transportation, 230. 

Post-Office of New York City, 
annual receipts of, 184. 

Post-Offices, 183. 

Poultry production, value of, 
169. 

"Preparedness," 131; "Against 
War," A. P. Gardner's, 140. 
See Defense. 

Presidents, list of, 239. 

President, the, relation to Fed- 
eral Executive, 5; develop- 
ment of, into party leader, 6, 9, 
11, 91, 218, 223; present pow- 
er of, discussed, 216; future 
powers of, 217; constitutional 
powers of, 247. 

Prisons, federal, 153. 

Probable developments in the 
Federal Executive, 215. 

Public works, expenditures for, 
122. 



INDEX 



267 



Railroads, Commissioner of, 230. 

Railroads, Department of, pos- 
sibility considered, 224. See 
■ Transportation. 

Railroads, former supervision of, 
by Interior Department, 105. 

Randolph, Attorney-General, 
opinion as to status of Attor- 
ney-General, 3 ; not head of an 
executive department, 4. 

Reclamation Service, 108. 

Redfield, Secretary of Com- 
merce, 175. 

Reform in distribution of func- 
tions of executive depart- 
ments, 159. 

Reindeer service, Alaska, 114. 

Removal, Presidential power of, 
52, 56. 

Representatives, House of, con- 
stitutional powers of, 240. 

Revenues of Government, 
sources of, 89. 

Rivers and harbors, 123. 

Roads, OfBce of Public, 164. 

Roosevelt, Franklin D., Assist- 
ant Secretary of Navy, 140. 

Roosevelt, President, on lack of 
national defense, 142; recom- 
mendation by, of Department 
of Commerce and Industries, 
213; on Bureau of Corpora- 
tions, 232. 

Root, Secretary, reorganized 
State Department, 80. 

Rural Delivery Service, 188. 

Russia, sea strength of navy, 142. 

Schouler, James, on depart- 
ments, 19; on Secretary Stod- 
dert, 26. 



Secretary to the President, 
status of, 65. 

Senate, concurrence of, in ap- 
pointment of heads of execu- 
tive departments, 29; consti- 
tutional powers of, 241. 

Senators, direct election of, 257. 

Shipping, of United States, 178. 

Smith, Easby, on Attorney- 
General, 38. 

Soley, James K., on Naval 
Academy, 138. 

Solicitor-General, duties of, 150. 

Spanish-American War, the 
navy in the, 134; effect on 
status of President, 216. 

Spooner, Senator, on status of 
Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, 226. 

Standards, Bureau of, 175. 

State, Department of, creation 
of, 16; organization of, 70; 
functions of, 79. 

State, Secretary of, duties of, 
80. 

State Department, Solicitor for 
the, 151. 

State jealousy of central power, 
16. 

"States' Rights," obsolescence 
of the doctrine of, 216. 

Stimson, Secretary of War, on 
the inadequacy of the Army, 
129. 

Stoddert, Benjamin, first Secre- 
tary of the Navy, 26. 

Supreme Court, same as in 
1789, 1. 

Switzerland, executive depart- 
ments of, 97; system of uni- 
versal military service, 125. 



268 



INDEX 



Taft, President, on pensions, 87; 
on military policy, 126; com- 
parison of cost and size of 
United States Army and for- 
eign armies, 127. 

Telegraphs and telephones, rec- 
ommendation of Postmaster- 
General on, 223; English 
Government control of, 224. 

Tenure-of-Office Acts, 57; reason 
for, 60; affect of repeal of, 92. 

Thayer, James Bradley, on 
duties of Attorney-General, 35. 

"Third House," President virtu- 
ally a, 5. 

Thompson, Mr. Justice, opinion 
on executive power, 54. 

Titles for the President, 50. 

Trade Commission, the Federal, 
creation and functions, 232. 

Transportation. See Railroads. 

Transportation, Department of, 
possibility of, 34, 236; reasons 
for, 180; recommendation of 
Howard Elliott, President of 
New York, New Haven and 
Hartford Railway Company, 
231. 

Treasurer of the United States, 
the, 95. 

Treasury, Comptroller of the, 
94. 

Treasury Department, creation 
of, 19; diversity of opinion as 
to organization of, 19; differ- 
ences in organization from 
other departments, 69; func- 
tions of, 85. 

Treasury, Secretary of, power of 
the, 95. 

Treasury, Solicitor of the, 152. 



Universal military service, 125. 
University, a national, urged by 
Washington, 138. 

Vice-President, not in Cabinet, 
10, 48; the status of, 48; con- 
stitutional powers of, 241. 

Vice-Presidents, list of, 239. 

Vinton, Samuel F., reported bill 
for Department of the Inter- 
ior, 28. 

Wage-earners, accorded repre- 
sentation in Cabinet, 33. 

Waite, Chief Justice, opinion on 
acts of President, 53. 

Walker, Robert J., Secretary of 
Treasury, drafted bill for 
Department of the Interior, 
28; on need of Home Depart- 
ment, 101. 

Wanamaker, John, Postmaster- 
General, 185. 

War, Department of, early offi- 
cial simplicity, 2; creation of, 
18; expenditures of, 121; 
functions, 121; non-military 
duties, 122. 

War, European, changes in de- 
partments because of, 120. 

War, Secretary of, original sal- 
ary of, 2. 

War of 1812, navy in the, 134. 

War Risk Insurance, Bureau of, 
120. i 

Washington, President, changes 
in Federal Executive since 
Administration of, 1; kept 
Vice-President out of Cabinet, 
10; continued executive ma- 
chinery of the Confederation, 



INDEX 



269 



20; relation to Cabinet, 43; on 
a national university, 138; on 
national defense, 140; on the 
, First Census, 158; recom- 
mendations as to executive 
departments, 197; influence on 
the Federal Executive, 199. 

Weather Bureau, 165. 

West Point Military Academy, 
training at, 136. 

Western-European affairs, Divi- 
sion of, 84. 

Whitney, Secretary, and the 
"New Navy," 134. 

Wickersham, Attorney-General, 
subordination of district attor- 
neys, 39. 



Wilson, President, on status of 
President, 5; theory and prac- 
tice of, 6; on position of Cabi- 
net, 44; foreign policy of 
United States defined, 85; on 
party leadership of Chief 
Executive, 91; relation of Pres- 
ident, to Congress 92; "govern- 
ment by mass-meeting," 92. 

Wilson, William Bauchop, first 
Secretary of Labor, 33; on 
policy of the Department, 179. 

Wirt, William, limitation of du- 
ties of Attorney-General, 36. 

Wotherspoon, Major-General, 
Chief-of-StaflF, on inadequacy 
of army, 128. 



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